Rosario Vampire Finale
by Omega Overlord
Summary: Junior year, can Tsukune ever break it to the other girls that he only wants to be with Moka? Not likely. But a certain new student may be able to help him out. Based on the anime only.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Rosario+Vampire portrayed within.

Tsukune got out of bed and stretched himself. He had gotten back to Yokai academy only last night after all.

He thought to himself, 'Junior year. Who knew I'd last this long. Oh I hope I'm in the same class as Moka…' as he thought of Moka, unbeknownst to him, his face went all starry-eyed and he started to drool.

His happy thoughts were shattered by a knock on his door, accompanied by a very high-pitched voice, "Tsukune! You're going to be late!"

He hung his head and opened the door… and was promptly tackled by Yukari Sendou, "I missed you Tsukune!!!!!!"

His eyes bugged out of his head as Yukari began to rub herself against him, "Yukari-san! This is the boys dormitory, why are you in here!?!"

Yukari flashed him a huge smile, "I wanted to be the first one to welcome you back, and no one even noticed me sneak in here!"

There was a voice from the hall, "Hey! Tsukune has a girl in his room!"

There was a stamped of footsteps before practically the entire boy's dorm was staring into his room.

Someone in the crowd shouted, "Tsukune, you pedophile!"

He tried to push Yukari off of him; his mouth was blabbering, "NO!!!! IT"S NOT LIKE THAT!!!!"

He managed to tear Yukari off of him long enough to slam the door. He leaned against it while panting with panic, 'it just never ends…'

Yukari threw him his school uniform, "Change quickly Tsukune!"

He froze for a moment before shrieking, "I'M NOT GOING TO CHANGE WITH YOU RIGHT THERE!!!"

He grabbed Yukari by the shoulder and pushed her, with her protesting, into the closet. He moved as quickly as he could, struggling into the uniform.

As he was putting his pants on there was a giggle from the closet, he shouted, "STOP LOOKING!!!"

When he was finished he opened the closet and was promptly tackled again, "Tsukune is funny, I didn't see anything."

He dragged himself up and, with Yukari hanging from his neck, trudged out the door. Passing through a sea of furious faces from his dorm mates.

He got out the door and heard an enraged shout from a blue-haired girl, Kurumu Kurono, "Yukari! Why were you in Tsukune's dorm?"

Yukari dropped off of his back and began to circle around him, chanting, "I saw Tsukune first, I saw Tsukune first…"

Kurumu grabbed Yukari by the shirt and shook, "You little…!"

He tried to break up the fight before it started, "Kurumu-san, please don't…"

Kurumu ignored him and continued to shake Yukari, speaking too quickly for him to understand any of what she was saying.

He tried to slowly edge his way by the arguing girls… a monotone voice came from behind him, "Tsukune…"

He nearly jumped out of his own skin, "Mizore-chan, please don't do that!"

Mizore held up a small bowl, "Shaved ice?"

He glanced back to where Kurumu was finishing her argument with Yukari, "Ah... now really isn't a good time..."

Kurumu's voice rang, "Tsukune!"

Before he could run, Kurumu had grabbed his head and shoved it between her breasts. His arms flailed wildly, but there really wasn't anything he could do. He really couldn't hear anything either.

Kurumu let go and he pulled his head out, he could have sworn that there was a small sucking sound when his head got clear, "Look, I really have to get to class and..."

Kurumu grabbed his arm, "That's ok, I'll walk you there."

The other two began to protest and he made good on his opportunity to escape.

Yukari was the first to notice his fleeing figure, "Tsukune, wait for me!"

He knew that he really didn't have that good of a chance of outrunning all three of them... least of all Kurumu, who could fly. He shot a look over his shoulder and started to push himself to run faster... the side of his face hit something as unyielding as a mountain.

Kurumu wasn't exactly sure what had just happened, but Tsukune was lying on the ground, unconscious, and the larger boy was calmly walking away. All she could see from this distance was that whoever it was had a shaggy head of silver hair.

She shouted at the retreating figure, "Hey! What did you do to Tsukune?!?"

The boy stopped and turned, "I beg your pardon, but do what to whom?"

Kurumu paused for only a moment at the sheer size of the boy speaking, he literally towered over her… and he looked like he had been chiseled out of a mountain, "Tsukune is lying on the ground, bleeding, and unconscious. There is no one else around but you."

The giant in front of her scratched his head for a moment, "… I think I would remember knocking someone out…"

She extended her claws, "Tell me, or else."

One of the boy's eyebrows shot up, "I really would advise against that."

She lunged forward, "And I would advise you to start talking."

The boy didn't even try to get out of the way. She had only intended to scare him, get him to talk, but her nails hit the boy directly in the side… and snapped off. She looked down at her hand for a full three seconds before the pain hit.

The boy watched her dancing around in pain, entirely passive, "I would like to point out that this was not my doing."

Mizore spoke in monotone, "…He is right…"

She whined, "Doesn't matter!"

The boy waited until she was done whining, "Look, I'll make you a deal. I'll get Tsukune to class, and you can check up on him later… like after you head to the infirmary yourself."

She bit her tongue on the verbal barb that she had ready, it would do her no good at all.

Yukari yelled, "You're not taking Tsukune anywhere without me!"

The boy gave the little witch a curious look, "Are you in the same class as him?"

Yukari whined, "How would I know?!"

The boy pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, "I can check if you like… let's see… you are?"

Yukari spoke her name, "Yukari Sendou."

The boy ran his finger down the paper, "Let's see… Yukari Sendou… Tsukune Ano… ah, and there is my name on the other side. It would appear that I am not going to be one of your classmates."

She muttered to herself, "This brute is in our school? Why?!?"

The "brute" currently had slung Tsukune's unconscious body over one shoulder and was walking in the direction of the school. With both Yukari and Mizore close behind.

She realized that she was getting left behind, "Hey! Wait for me!"

Tsukune felt something cold being pressed to the side of his face. His eyes snapped open, then squinted against the glare from the lights.

He heard the voice of an angel, "Tsukune?"

He forced himself into a seated position, ignoring the stinging sensation in the side of his face, "Moka-san? Where am I?"

Moka toyed with the Rosario on her chest, "A large boy brought you in. He didn't say how you became unconscious but, he did seem kind enough."

Another voice he knew chimed in, "I could answer the "why"."

He turned towards the other voice, expecting what he saw. Ruby Toujou was wearing a nurse's outfit and holding a clipboard.

He couldn't help but ask, "Ruby-san? You're the nurse now?"

Ruby got a rather distant look in her eyes, and spoke a line that he had heard quite a few times, "Yes... many, many things have happened. After it was discovered that the old nurse was taking advantage of the students she was fired. I'm filling in until the chairman can find a replacement."

Tsukune couldn't help but smirk, he muttered "And how long is it going to last I wonder…"

Ruby flicked her hair back, "If you'll excuse me, I have other students to attend to."

Moka waited until Ruby was gone until she spoke, "Tsukune...? Did you have a good summer?"

He smiled, "Of course! Mother was asking about you all the time, if I had spoken with you, when we would be meeting again…" he trailed off.

Moka took his hand and held it between both of her own, "I'm so glad that you're back, Tsukune."

He found himself staring, "...Moka-san..."

A small tear was in the corner of Moka's eye, "...Tsukune..."

Slowly, ever so slowly, Moka started to move her face towards his own. She wasn't aiming for his neck either!!! Maybe he could finally...

There was a crash from the door and Kurumu appeared, ruining the moment, "Tsukune...!" She noticed how Moka had frozen, "Hey! Moka, were you trying to drink from him!?!"

Moka waved her hands in front of her, "Ah, no, nothing like that. I was just ah... checking the bruise on his face."

Kurumu put her hands on her hips, "A likely story!"

He stood, interrupting anything that might have happened "Look, I'm fine. Do you know which class I'm in?"

Kurumu's attitude shifted instantly, she spoke in a sing-song voice, "Yes, I do! Tsukune is in the same class as me! Yahoo!!!"

Moka spoke hesitantly, "Ah... what about me?"

Kurumu frowned, "...Yes..."

Moka hugged him, "I'm so happy!"

After school:

Tsukune watched and listened to Ginei Morioka launch into a long speech about how "this year's paper should be the best ever!"

He muttered to himself, "If Gin-senpi could stop being a pervert for ten seconds then the paper might improve that much…"

There was a knock on the door, and a large crack appeared in the door, the head of a much larger boy stuck into the room after the door had been pushed open, "Sorry about that… is this the newspaper club?"

Kurumu sprang to her feet, "You! Why are you here?"

The other boy gave Kurumu a blank look, "One simple reason, I would like to join this club if at all possible."

Ginei sprang to his feet, "Then I would like to welcome you! I'm Ginei Morioka, the student in charge here."

The other boy shook the offered hand, "Onyx" the boy's gaze went up and down Ginei quickly, "Werewolf?"

Ginei looked stunned for a moment, "Uh… how… how do you…?"

Onyx tapped the necklace around Ginei's neck, "If you want to keep your type a secret, wearing a medallion that proclaims it for all to see really isn't a wise choice. As for me… I prefer giving people that hint." At this, Onyx slightly lifted a metal cube that was hung on a cord from his neck.

A long moment passed in silence.

Onyx looked around, "Really? None of you get it?"

They collectively shook their heads.

Onyx shrugged, "Oh well. If I may guess at the rest… Yukari, obviously a witch. Mizore……. Snow woman?"

Mizore nodded blankly.

Onyx turned his gaze to him, "And as for you… human."

His face drained of blood completely, "Ah… no, of course not."

Onyx set his head in hand, "Really? Than what are you?"

All at once the girls each said the following:

Kurumu, "demon."

Moka, "vampire"

Yukari, "wizard."

Mizore, "yeti."

Onyx gave all of them a look, "You know, I really couldn't care less if he were human or not, and all of your varying responses just reinforce my statement. Next time, if you try to blatantly lie, make sure you all have the same story."

Onyx continued ignoring the previous conversation entirely, "I'm guessing that the pink-haired one, judging from the Rosario, is a vampire. And the noisy, blue-haired one…"

Kurumu stood and shouted at Onyx, "Who are you calling noisy?!?"

Onyx smirked, "Point made. I'm guessing succubus, on the simple observation that you are not wearing a bra."

The room went dead silent… until Yukari started laughing hysterically.

Ginei started to chuckle slightly, "Well… that would explain a lot of… movement…"

Kurumu's face turned beet red and she started to stammer, but no recognizable words came out.

Onyx smirked and leaned in close to Kurumu's ear, "Oh don't fret about it, I think we all get that it's just part of your nature. Even if it is VERY trashy."

Kurumu's face deadpanned, and she began to yell in Onyx's face, "You're calling ME trashy?!? Do you have ANY idea what the rest of them," she gestured at Moka, Mizore, and Yukari, "have done.?!?!"

Onyx stood and shook his head, 'Ah… young women these days… Well I've had my fun. Gin-senpi, unless you need me for anything…?"

Ginei dismissed Onyx with a wave of his hand, "Of course not, just keep your eyes peeled. The first issue comes out next week!"

With a curt nod to each of them, Onyx left the room, this time being much more delicate with the door.

Kurumu felt the eyes of everyone in the room upon her, normally she would have enjoyed it… but as the glares were from the other girls…

Yukari was the first to speak, "No bra? Kurumu-san, what are you trying to pull?!?"

The little witch dove through the air at her.

She caught Yukari by the front of her blouse, "Something that you couldn't even begin to attempt, A-cup." She threw Yukari back towards the window, where the little witch stuck and slowly slid down with a pronounced squeaking sound.

She turned to Tsukune and got in his face, "But Tsukune doesn't mind, does he?"

Tsukune tried to back away, but he was already against a wall, "K, Kurumu-chan, please…"

Yukari shrieked from the window, "Look!"

Everyone turned to look at the little witch, who was pointing to something outside the window.

Yukari continued to speak, "The public safety committee is confronting Onyx-san!"

She pouted, "The brute can take care of himself."

Ginei stood and threw a fist in the air, "Either way, it's a story and I, as the head of the newspaper club, will document this from here!"

They all stared at Ginei, deadpanned.

The werewolf laughed, "What I mean to say is that someone will need to get his statement no matter what happens, and it is best to do that immediately after the event… whatever that is going to be. Moka-san, Tsukune-san, get his statement immediately afterwards, go!"

Onyx stood in the center of a ring of three people; all three were wearing matching insignia and had each a similar haughty attitude.

The one directly in front of him began to speak, "So, I hear that you were joining the newspaper club."

He replied, "Then you heard correctly. Is there a problem with me doing that?"

The same person responded, "I would just advise that you withdraw your membership as soon as possible."

One of his eyebrows shot up, "And… how strong would this "advice" be?"

All three of them spoke at once, "VERY strong."

He chuckled, "I see… well, I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request."

The one in front of him gave him a look devoid of understanding.

He smirked, "Means no."

There was a red gleam in the leader's eyes, "You'll regret your glibness when you're lying at our feet, begging for mercy."

His right arm rotated at the shoulder, bringing his fist up to bash the face that was attempting to bite his neck, the blow made a sound like a person being hit with a frying pan, "Most unwise." He glanced behind him at the large spider that was now in place of the girl, "transformation? Isn't that against the rules?"

The boy in front laughed, "Not when you're one of us it isn't, we MAKE the rules."

He glared at the two now in front of him, "Well then, that will make this all the more satisfying."

Tsukune ran to keep up with Moka as they both ran outside to where Onyx was being accosted. It took, at most, two minutes, but the situation had already changed dramatically. One of the public safety committee was flat on the ground, out cold, and the other two were standing in front of Onyx having a stare down.

Onyx saw the both of them and acknowledged their presence, "Ah, there you are. I was wondering when Gin-senpi would get around to noticing the commotion. Here to take my statement after this is over?"

He nodded, "And to help if we can."

Onyx smiled, "Oh, I don't think that will be necessary. This will be over before you know it." He turned his gaze back to the public safety committee members, "And as for you…remember that you brought this on yourselves."

There was a flash of light that forced him to cover his eyes, when he looked again… something ten feet tall and, as difficult as it was to believe, built literally like a tank.

The leader spoke, "Transforming is just going to make things worse for you in the end."

Onyx now spoke with a heavy, metallic grate, "I think I'll take my chances."

Both members of the public safety committee still standing transformed, one into a burning bird, and the other into a huge stone statue.

Onyx laughed, "A phoenix and a statue, nothing higher ranking than a B. Ah well, at least I'll be able to have a decent slugging match with the statue… maybe. Come on then!"

The two did as bidden, launching a dual-offensive with fire flowing from the phoenix and the statue raining huge stone fists upon Onyx.

Onyx raised a hand and caught the falling fist of the statue, "Typical, exceedingly weak. For future reference, never try to destroy steel with stone." Onyx swung one wreaking-ball sized fist from right to left, only once, and put the statue on the ground, out cold, with a huge crack running through the entire thing.

The phoenix flew about twenty feet off the ground, "You might have been able to beat him down, but you can't hit what you can't reach." The bird started to laugh.

Onyx looked skyward for only a moment before grabbing the fallen statue and hurling it underhand at the flying phoenix like it was a baseball. The bird let out a very undignified squawk when it was struck and the tangled mass of stone and feathers continued off into the distance.

Onyx waved at the flying mass, "Say hello to the horizon for me!" He turned back to them, "I suppose I have some explanations to make."

He was momentarily awestruck by the display of power, "Ah… yeah…"

Onyx reverted to his human form, "It would be easier to discuss this only once, I say we go back to the club room, hm?"

Onyx began to walk back and left him alone with Moka, "…Moka-san… I don't think the other you is the strongest monster on campus anymore…"

Kurumu turned away from the window and sat down to sulk, the fact that she had attacked a monster that had just demolished three members of the public safety committee single-handedly, without so much as a bruise to show for it, was not registering.

The door opened and Onyx entered, "I'm guessing that everyone here is wondering what happened?"

Everyone present, except her, nodded vigorously.

Onyx nodded, "Very well, I'll start with the basics then… I'm a golem. One of the few that were made of steel. To my knowledge there is no force in man, magic, or nature that can harm me. I am immune to mental manipulation, torture, and bribery… although that last one is personal. And…… really I can't think of anything else off the top of my head."

She was the one to ask, "So… you're invincible?"

Onyx shrugged, "Pretty much, yes… and I know how much that annoys you."

Tsukune spoke up, "Then… why are you here?"

Onyx opened his mouth… and shut it, "…Not that I wouldn't like to discuss that… really I would but… I can't."

She got in Onyx's face, "Can't, or won't?"

The golem's eyes narrowed, "Can't… and I resent the accusation."

She shot back, "And I resent your snappy comments."

The golem stood, "As much as I would enjoy arguing into the late hours of the night… I have a curfew to obey. I bid all of you… most of you, a good night."

Onyx left, rather quickly.

Ginei remarked, "Well, that was sudden."

Mizore finished the thought, "…Weird…"

She spoke, "And you're one to talk, stalker freak."

Next day: all school physical education class

Tsukune watched the teacher stride out onto the track. He was rather curious to learn why the whole school was out on the field at the same time. There was barely room for half the school, let alone all of them.

The teacher shouted, "Ok class, I'm sure you're wondering why all of you are out here at the same time. Last year there was a student petition for group physical education classes, and over half of the student body signed. So, here we are. I haven't quite had the time to create a comprehensive lesson plan yet so… boys, run on the track. When you can't run anymore you can join the girls for some stretches. Move!"

There was a collective groan of dismay from the boys, oddly though; the one that voiced the most disproval was Onyx (it was easy to see him because he towered over most of the other boys). He couldn't figure out why though, as much as he ran, Onyx ran three laps for every one that he completed.

He stumbled to a stop, panting, "Ha… ha… no… more…"

There was a loud voice from behind him, accompanied by the sound of very heavy footfalls, "Gang way!!!"

He turned around just in time to see Onyx club him out of the way and continue running. His head hit the side of something hard, and he blacked out.

Something cold was being pressed against the back of his head, there was also a monotone voice, "…Tsukune?"

His eyes fluttered open. Mizore had propped his head up in her lap.

Mizore asked, "Tsukune? Are you ok?"

He shoved himself up, "Of course I'm… AH!!!" When he pushed himself up, his face came within a centimeter of Moka's Rosario, "I'm sorry!"

Moka blushed profusely, "I… it's ok Tsukune…"

He was stunned momentarily, "Huh? Really?" He shot a look over his shoulder to where Mizore was giving him a blank stare, "Ah…………………. Where's Kurumu-san and Yukari-san?"

Mizore pointed behind Moka, "Over there, chasing the golem."

He followed Mizore's finger to where Onyx was still running, with Kurumu and Yukari close behind; both of them throwing things at the golem. He was unable to determine whether or not Onyx was just running because he wasn't tired yet… or if he was running away from the two girls. Considering that a brass pot had deformed itself around Onyx's head and he didn't even seem to notice gave evidence to the former.

He asked, more voicing a thought than anything else, "How long was I out?"

Moka answered, "About an hour, I was starting to get worried."

He thought about his schedule for a moment, "Then… school is over for the day……"

Mizore hauled him up, "Then we can walk Tsukune back to his dorm."

Moka grabbed his other arm… at least it was her instead of Kurumu, "Ah… ok."

Just before they got off the field there was a shout from the track, "HEY! Don't you dare try to sneak off with Tsukune!!!"

He whispered to Moka, "Run!"

He made a break for it through the trees, a convenient route that he used when he REALLY needed to get away from the other girls, only now Moka was coming along for the ride.

He broke out of the woods near his dorm, "Are you ok Moka-san?"

Moka replied, "Of course."

He let out a sigh of relief, "Oh, good." He turned around to look at Moka, "Moka-san I… good night."

Moka smiled up at him… he saw her nose start to twitch.

He smiled and pulled back his collar, "Go ahead."

Moka appeared overjoyed, "Thank you Tsukune!"

_Kapuchu_.

Next day: walking to class.

Tsukune got up early the next morning, got dressed, and snuck out of his dorm. He really didn't want to get jumped by the girls today, maybe if he could just get to the main building without attracting attention…

As he started past the track he heard something, something that sounded like someone with very heavy feet running. He walked out to the track and saw Onyx, running.

The golem saw him, "Hello there, could you do me a favor?"

He looked down at the track, there were defined footsteps pounded into the dirt, "Have you been running here all night???"

Onyx's pace took him over to the other side of the track, "………Yes I have……… and I'll gladly explain it……… if you find a teacher……… to tell me to stop running!"

He shouted to Onyx, "I'll be right back! Don't go anywhere!"

The golem dryly remarked, "Oh you can count on that…"

He ran to the main building, stopping long enough to sneak past Kurumu. The succubus was staring attentively down the path towards his dorm, no doubt waiting to jump him the instant he came within sight.

He sprinted behind Yukari, who was doing the exact same thing from a ledge (he could not figure out how she had gotten up there) and closed the door to the school behind him, "Ha… ha… ha… made it."

A voice came from behind him, "…Tsukune…"

He felt his heart skip several beats out of terror, "AHHHH!!! Mizore-chan, don't do that!"

Mizore cocked her head at him, "Why are you sneaking around?"

He paused for a moment before deciding to tell the truth, "Ah… Onyx-san needs help. He's been stuck on the track, running, all night."

Mizore gave him a blank look, "Why?"

He shrugged, "He said that he'd tell me if I found a teacher to tell him to stop running, I don't know why though."

Mizore stayed silent for a moment, "…ok…"

He breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you Mizore-chan."

He turned around and raced towards the classroom, Mizore was close behind.

He burst into the room, "Nekonome-sensei…!"

The room was empty.

Mizore spoke, "…Now what?"

He was silent for a second, "I don't know…"

There was a voice behind him, one that instantly sent a chill down his spine, "Oh? Tsukune-san, Shizuka is out for today."

He turned around slowly, praying that his guess was wrong… it wasn't, "R…Ririko-sensei, what is wrong with Nekonome-sensei?"

Kagome Ririko, the satanic math teacher, rolled her eyes, "She had a poorly cooked piece of fish and took ill."

Infirmary:

Shizuka Nekonome vomited into a bucket, "But WHY?!? It tasted so good… meow…"

Tsukune:

Ririko smiled innocently, "That means I'm teaching your class today!"

His face deadpans, "Eh……………………………………" He remembers why exactly he had been looking for a teacher, "Oh! Ririko-sensei, I have a friend that needs your help."

Ririko's eyes lit up, "Really!?!?! Who are they?"

He had a bad feeling that Ririko-sensei was getting the wrong idea, "Onyx-san."

Ririko's mood shifted dramatically, "Oh… _him_. Someone gave him an open-ended order again did they?"

The mood swing caught him off guard, "Ah… yes."

Ririko shook her head, "Where is he?"

He answers, "Out on the track."

Ririko turned around and began to walk away, "Come along if you like."

He shot a look over at Mizore; she shrugged and started to follow.

He shook his head, "Why does that evil woman keep showing up???"

Then his curiosity got the better of him, and he started to follow.

Kurumu stared intently down the path that Tsukune would be taking from his dorm to the school.

She muttered to herself, "Why hasn't he shown up yet? He's going to be late."

She heard the doors open far behind her. She turned around and... it was Ririko-sensei, and behind her... Tsukune and Mizore!!! What was he doing, alone, with Mizore?

She ignored the thought and started to run over, "Tsuku..." She was cut off by a large brass pot falling on her head.

Yukari hopped down from her ledge, landing on the unconscious Kurumu to soften the fall, and began to run over to Tsukune.

She sang, "Tsukune!"

Tsukune started to turn towards her, "Yukari-chan...!"

She jumped up and wrapped her arms around Tsukune's chest, "Good morning Tsukune!"

At the noise, Ririko paused and turned around, "Aww… how cute."

She exclaimed, "Did you hear that Tsukune!?! We make a cute couple!"

Mizore commented, "She was referring to your reaction."

She snapped, "No one asked you."

Tsukune's voice sounded strained, "Yukari-chan… please let go. You're crushing me."

She let go and smiled up at him, "Where are you going?"

Tsukune started rubbing his arms, "Onyx-san was stuck on the track all night. He said he needed a teacher to tell him to stop running."

She was confused, "Why?'

Ririko cut her off, "I'm sure that the boy will be happy to explain himself to you once we get there. Now if you would..."

She took out her wand and toyed with it as she followed the other three towards the track. When they all got near the track... she could hear the thumping sound from about twenty meters off.

When they got near, Onyx noticed them and spoke, fading in and out with his progress around the track, "Hello again......... found Ririko-sensei I see.......... I hope the animosity isn't going to get in the way."

Ririko shouted one word, "Stop."

Onyx stopped dead, right in front of all of them.

The golem smiled, "Thank you Ririko-sensei, and you to Tsukune."

Ririko smirked, "Just remember this next time you think about slacking off in class."

Onyx laughed, "Really Ririko-sensei? I'm the top student, if only out of the desire to not attend your "extra" lessons."

Ririko smiled, "Just make sure it stays that way." She waved her finger slowly back and forth in time with the syllables, "Diligence."

Onyx inclined his head out of respect, "Of course."

Ririko nodded, "Do as usual."

Tension visibly flowed out of the standing golem. Onyx immediately knelt down to examine the tattered remains of his running shoes.

Ririko smiled at the rest of them, "I expect all of you to be in class promptly."

Once Ririko was out of earshot Onyx let out a short laugh, "Just my luck that you'd find her. I'm just about the only one in my class not taking extra lessons with her."

Tsukune asked, "So, why DID you need a teacher to get you to stop?"

Onyx stood, "Because one of them ordered me to run until I no longer could. I'm a golem so... that would have been the end of time."

Tsukune pressed, "Yes, but why did that happen in the first place?"

Onyx frowned, "...I didn't tell you last time because of one of the terms in the contract... but I can tell you now because you've witnessed it firsthand..." Onyx took a deep breath, "As a golem I have... obligations... to the living being that wears the ring my contract was made into. My contract was originally a large sheet of metal but... my current master took that sheet and had it made into a ring. Now... I am forced to obey anything that he says, and anyone that he delegates authority to while he is not present. I don't even want to think about the number of times that I've been stuck doing some stupid thing following orders like, "Golem, break down that wall" or, "Golem, move my things from this store to the one several miles down the road" and let's not forget, "Golem, pick me up, I tire of walking."

She asked, "What contract?"

Onyx tore off his ruined running shoes, "As I understand it, I used to be a human. My life was extracted from my old body and placed into this current one. Thing is, I cannot remember anything about myself until my current master activated me. I hope that if I am ever released that I would remember who I was but... the odds of that ball of slime removing the ring for even a fraction of a second... I'm likely doomed to serve this creature until he dies of old age. But more likely than not, he'll pass the ring on before he dies."

Tsukune's mouth hung open, "That's horrible..."

Onyx nodded, "I know." A smirk spread over his face, "But hey, my master should be coming to visit on the same day that your parents are. Maybe you could convince him to free me, unlikely as it may be." Onyx began to walk away, back towards the dorms, but paused, "…I just had a terrible thought… Kurumu's mother is going to show up isn't she?"

Tsukune looked like he had been punched, his eyes went wide, "Oh no…"

Onyx laughed, "That bad huh? Well, like mother like daughter. Gives you a good idea of what the noisy one is gonna look like in a few years though…"

In her mind she imagined Kurumu those several years down the line, "It's not fair!!!"

She noticed suddenly that everyone, including Onyx, was now staring at her.

Onyx smiled, "Wow… someone has body image issues."

She pointed her wand at the golem, "I do not!"

Onyx shook his head, "Sure you don't… I'll be seeing you all soon. Hopefully with my stupid master in tow."

She turned to Tsukune after Onyx was gone, "You think I'm pretty, right?"

Tsukune's face went blank, "Ah… Well um………yes?"

She jumped on him, "Yay!!! Tsukune likes me!"

Tsukune was shouting, "I didn't say that!"

Family day:

Kurumu walked into the school, ignoring the other boys that were watching her. Her mother was going to show up today… and Mizore's was likely to show up as well. She HAD to keep her mother away from Mizore's; else they would start fighting and cause a huge mess.

She saw Mizore waiting by the door, in the bushes, and ran over, "Hey, stalker freak, you keep your mother away from mine, got it?"

Mizore didn't even look at her, "Same to you."

She got annoyed, "At least my mother didn't set up a school field trip just so you could sleep with Tsukune."

Mizore still didn't turn around, "Right, your mother tried to seduce Tsukune for you, and failed."

She gave up, "You are impossible!"

Mizore ignored her completely. She positioned herself in front of Mizore so as to obscure the snow woman's view.

Mizore spoke, "…move…"

This time, she ignored Mizore, "Make me."

There was a cracking sound as a trail of ice appeared out of nowhere, but none of the ice was under her.

She laughed, "Ha! You missed!"

Mizore didn't say anything. There was however a shout of panic from the other end of the ice path. She turned just in time to be bowled over by a random boy. Consequently, she was out of Mizore's view.

She slapped the boy in the face, "Get off of me you pervert!!!"

The freshman started to whine, while running away with a huge, red hand print across his face, "I didn't DO anything!"

She got up, dusted herself off, and looked down the path again. There was Tsukune… and Moka. The crafty blood-sucker had probably been waiting at Tsukune's dorm... and Moka got angry... if you could call her protesting loudly but not much else angry... if she and Mizore did the same thing. She started to run out to greet Tsukune... but something else caught her attention coming down the path from the left of school...

She gasped with dread, "Mother!"

She started to run out towards her mother. Mizore broke from the bushes and began to run the other way. She met Mizore in the middle of the courtyard, wordlessly shot a look over her shoulder to see Mizore's mother, Tsurara Shirayuki, was coming from the other direction.

She spoke to Mizore, "You take your mother that way, and I'll take mine this way."

Mizore nodded, "Right." And began to run towards Tsurara.

She started to run, already coming up with the lie she would use to get her mother to wander around WITHOUT going to her classroom and harassing Tsukune. Somehow though, she had a bad feeling that today was only going to get worse.

Onyx slowly wandered in the vague direction of his first class. He was bound to show up on time, but that was still about an hour off. And he couldn't have a hobby because of that stupid contract… "took too much time" Amuro had said. If he could have been free of the ring's command for three seconds when Amuro was around… He shut his eyes and fantasized about crushing his gremlin master into a fine paste. His book bag snagged on the corner of a locker and brought him out of the daydream.

He knelt to gather his things, "Of all the stupid things to happen…"

Something, or rather, someone caught his eye. Tsukune was pressing himself against the door of Nekonome-sensei's classroom, which was still locked, while both Kurumu and Mizore approached from opposite ends of the hallway. Judging by the difference in height, the older women with each of them were undoubtedly their mothers. He could only imagine how much crap that Tsukune would have to go through if both mothers dug their claws into him at the same time, subtly… or maybe not so subtly in the case of Kurumu's mother… trying to set Tsukune up with their daughters. Tsukune was a friend of his now, and he really couldn't just stand by and watch while a friend was in need. But… how to get both… or at least one of the mothers, away from Tsukune? He knew next to nothing about snow women except for how to recognize them… on the other hand… he knew full well how to distract a succubus.

He rearranged his silver hair into something more stylish, "I know I'm probably going to regret this but… here goes nothing."

Ageha Kurono strutted down the hall towards Tsukune's classroom. After her last disastrous attempt to hook Tsukune for Kurumu she was eager to try again; she still couldn't figure out why Kurumu wouldn't let her help…

A deep, strong voice came from behind her, "Pardon me madam…"

She paused and turned her head to look at the speaker, "Yes?"

The speaker was a man… and she really couldn't tell how old he was, "I couldn't help but notice what a fine dress you were wearing, Dolce and Gabbana?"

That got her attention, and she turned to face the man completely, "Very good… I've never met a man that knows anything about high fashion, and you?"

The man smirked, "Well, as you can see, I'm rather stuck with the school uniform at the moment. But if I had my choice it would be an Armani or Gucci suit."

She hesitated for a moment to actually look at the boy and realized that he was indeed wearing the school uniform, "Wait… you're a student?"

The boy continued to smirk, "What? I don't act like a high school student?"

She laughed slightly, "Not really. But tell me… If you recognized Dolce and Gabbana… then you must surely recognize these?"

Onyx watched the woman prop one of her legs up against a locker, ignoring the fact that the silk of her dress slid up the entire length of her thigh, "…Prada."

A flash of genuine interest appeared in the woman's eye… which was both good and bad depending on how he wanted to look at it, "You ARE good. Your name?"

He extended his hand, "Onyx, and you?"

The woman shook the offered hand, "Ageha Kurono."

He feigned surprise, "Kurono? Any relationship to a Kurumu Kurono?"

Ageha smiled with pride, "Yes, she's my daughter. I trust the two of you have met?"

He followed the ruse, "Once or twice, she seems very… spirited, I'll say."

Ageha continued smiling, which was starting to get rather unnerving, "Very, what would you say is the best thing about her?"

He replied honestly, "You know, I've only met her twice and I really haven't had the opportunity to talk, so I'm rather at a loss to pick one."

A devious glint appeared in Ageha's eyes, "And… what about me?" She struck a pose, "What do you think?"

He hesitated for a moment, "Well…"

Ageha commented, "102 centimeters and still growing."

It took him a second to figure it out, "…Oh, I get it. The twins."

Ageha smiled at him, "Oh? That's what I call them. You read my mind."

Something odd happened in Ageha's eyes.

He waited for a few seconds before asking, "Is there… something wrong with your eye?"

Ageha blinked for a few seconds… the same thing happened again.

He was at a loss of what to say, "Ah… Can I help you… in some way?"

Ageha stood up straight, a mischievous smile now appearing, "That is a first… a man that I am unable to charm… I like you."

He was speechless, "Ah……………" A familiar tugging sensation caught his attention, "Oh crap…"

It was as if he were being dragged at warp speed backwards through anything in the way, walls, students, teachers…

He sighed to himself, "Just my lucky day…"

Ageha watched Onyx practically fly backwards, crashing through every wall in the way, after a moment of stunned silence she waved, "…Bye…"

Tsukune kept his head on a swivel, anticipating the moment that Kurumu's mother would arrive and make his school life hell… Tsurara Shirayuki staring at him from the back of the class was bad enough. The building began to shake.

He found himself standing, ready to do something. Namely, rushing over to Moka and removing the Rosario.

Onyx crashed through the wall, flying backwards like he had either been punched or was being drawn. The monster students separating him from the flying golem were fast enough to get out of the way… he wasn't entirely. While he did manage to keep Onyx's flying bulk from pulping him, one of Onyx's trailing arms clubbed him upside the head. He staggered backwards from the blow… and out the hole Onyx had created in the wall.

Onyx lay, flat on his back, while he watched Tsukune fall out of the new window he had put in the third floor. The human fell the entire distance and landed squarely atop his chest with a heavy 'thunk', and a cry of pain.

A voice he hated spoke, "Oh? You brought me a snack to, good slave!"

He muttered, loud enough to be heard, "I hate you…"

His master, Amuro Ray, laughed, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful."

He replied, "I don't. I hate you because you are ugly, arrogant, petty, and out of my simple desire to be free of you."

Amuro laughed more, "How very eloquent. Now… stand so I can get a look at this boy."

He stood; despite being the obvious thing to do he would have rather stayed on the ground just to be defiant, "Happy?"

Amuro picked up Tsukune's hand and nibbled on the thumb, "Oooh, they are so good when they are young!"

There was a shout that he recognized, and was surprisingly relieved to hear, "Leave Tsukune alone!"

Kurumu lunged at Amuro, claws extended.

Amuro shrieked, "Golem! Defend me!"

Tsukune covered his eyes against the flash of light as Onyx transformed and swatted Kurumu away like she were a rag doll.

The gremlin spoke, "Now, use that boy as a projectile, throw him at them."

Onyx scooped him up and whispered in his ear, "I'm going to throw you by Moka, just stick your arm out and I'll do the rest."

Before he had a chance to say anything to the positive or the negative, Onyx threw him like a javelin. He stuck out his arm as bidden and was surprised when his outstretched arm did indeed grasp the Rosario… and then Moka's left breast… before flying past and skidding to a stop against the building.

There was a flash of red light as vampire Moka awoke.

Vampire Moka stretched a bit, "About time, I've been sealed off for two whole months."

A hysterical voice shrieked, "I told you to throw the boy AT them. Not slightly to the side!"

A heavy metallic grate followed, sarcastically replying, "It still gives me a sick sense of pleasure to do exactly as you say, not what you mean."

She turned to look at the two foot high creature that was screaming at the golem, "And I'm sure you remember how I deal with that! Punch yourself in the face, right now!"

There was a loud clang as Onyx did as he was told.

She spoke, "Hey! I was summoned to deal with you? Is this some kind of joke?"

The gremlin turned to look at her, "Not me, you get to deal with my slave!"

She looked back and forth between the ten foot tall, invincible golem, and the two foot high, pathetic, gremlin, "I think I'd rather just teach you a lesson in humility."

She dashed forward and began to throw a kick at the gremlin.

The gremlin shouted, "Aura!"

Onyx's fists smashed together, creating a large, blue sphere of light that made her feel an almost overwhelming sense of fatigue. Her kick missed entirely.

The gremlin laughed and clambered up the side of the golem, settling in behind Onyx's head, "Now that you are weakened… golem, attack!"

Onyx felt violated by the presence of Amuro, right behind his head, sheltered by the high ridge of steel that formed his shoulders. He reluctantly began to do as told, swinging his right fist high, and wide so that Vampire Moka might have a chance to get out of the way… she didn't. His fist connected and sent the vampire skipping across the ground for a good thirty meters.

A small weight landed on his back and started to climb up, Amuro shrieked, "Golem, get rid of the thing on your back, it threatens me."

He remained still, "And how do you propose I do that?"

Amuro said what he knew the gremlin would say, "Fall on your back, hard. Crush that insipid fool."

He hesitated only for a second before he realized the chance that he had been given, "…As you wish."

He jumped backwards, landing on his back with enough force to jar Amuro loose from the gremlin's perch and send it rolling across the ground towards the school… where there were three angry girls waiting.

He shouted, while remaining on the ground, "Get the ring off of his finger! That's the only way to stop me!"

To his delight, he could hear Amuro begging with the girls and shrieking for him to get over to him as soon as possible. He did stand, and he did begin to rush over, but just as his fist was coming down to crush Yukari… Kurumu tore the ring off of Amuro's finger.

His fist stopped an inch from Yukari's head, he withdrew the fist and stood, examining himself to see if there had been any change, "…Well… that was rather anti-climactic…"

He turned to glare at Amuro, who was attempting to jump up and grab the ring away from Kurumu, who was holding it just out of the gremlin's reach.

He took the ring from Kurumu and held it within his hand, "…Never again will I be commanded." He closed his fist, crushing the ring into dust.

Amuro started to back away slowly, "Now Onyx, let's be reasonable here…"

He started to walk after the gremlin, "Oh? You remember my name now? Well, too little too late, you pretentious bug."

He brought both fists down at once and crushed Amuro with a satisfying squishing sound.

Yukari gasped, "You didn't…"

He flicked some of the slime off of his fists, "No, he's still alive. He'll just be in pain for about a few hundred days. Not that I'm sympathetic in any…"

He was cut off by Vampire Moka leaping through the air and landing a flying kick to the side of his face. The vampire then spun on her heel upon landing and attempted to do the same thing from the other side.

He had other ideas, he caught Vampire Moka by the leg and hung her head in front of his own, "Need some way to vent your frustrations I suppose?"

The vampire nodded, "If you don't mind."

He let go and the vampire landed on her feet, "Not really."

Vampire Moka leaped back and forth about ten times before he got annoyed, "Look, should I just lean over to make this easier on you? I really don't feel like standing here all night just so you can vent."

The vampire paused, finally revealing a trace of fatigue, "…If you must."

He leaned over until his face was within reach of her legs from the ground and things continued on like that for about three minutes.

After about the fiftieth kick he commented, "…You do realize that you are flashing me every time you do that… right?"

Vampire Moka glared at him, "I am kicking you in the face… and you notice THAT?"

He bluntly replied, "When my face neither moves nor feels pain I tend to notice things that others tend to ignore."

Vampire Moka scoffed and turned away from him, looking around, she paused, "…Where's Tsukune?"

He had a thought, "…It… wasn't one of you that jumped onto my back… was it?"

They all shot him a look… and sprinted towards the crater he had made with his own body. At the bottom, pressed into the dirt, still clutching Moka's Rosario, was Tsukune.

He found himself laughing, "Had a "hero moment" didn't he?"

Vampire Moka just glared at him.

There was a shrill cry from behind him. "I'll help you one-sama!!!"

He turned just in time to see a red headed girl swing a huge tree at him; reflexively, he blocked the blow with his arm.

He glared at the sticky tree sap that was now covering his burnished metal skin, "…You little cretin… I just buffed that this morning!!!" His fist swung up, catching the red head on the chin.

The girl shouted as she flew to the horizon, "I love you one-sama!!!" Before disappearing into the distance.

The others all stared at him; Kurumu spoke, "You seriously buff your skin?"

He shrugged, "What? I can't have one vanity?"

There was silence.

Next day:

Tsukune walked to class, there was now a huge bandage wrapped around both his head and his left hand. Onyx had literally fallen on him.

He sighed, "Why me?"

There was a shout, "Tsukune!"

He turned to see Onyx striding up the path behind him. The golem was no longer wearing the school uniform, but something else.

He asked the obvious question, "What are you wearing?"

Onyx smiled and laughed, "Well, since I'm now free I thought I'd be a bit rebellious for a little bit. Besides, I don't think any of the teachers are going to object to me wearing an Armani suit. As for where… I liberated it from my former master; let's just say that I took what was owed."

He smiled, "So, you're free now?"

Onyx nodded, still smiling, "Yes I am, and I owe you for it."

He paused, "But… I didn't do anything."

Onyx chuckled, "Not quite, you gave me the opportunity to get Amuro off of my back, literally. And besides..." Onyx leaned in, "Would you really want to owe Kurumu, Mizore, or Yukari anything?"

He laughed uneasily, "Ha, ha ha… yeah…"

Onyx gave him a good natured pat on the shoulder, which made him sink a few inches into the ground, "You see the point, good. As it is, I think I know the exact way that I'm going to repay you."

He gave the golem a confused look, "Huh? What do you mean?"

Onyx gave him a look, "I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you really only want to be with Moka, right?"

He shot a panicked stare around everywhere before quickly nodding, "Yes…"

Onyx smirked, "And I'm guessing that the only reason that you haven't told the others this is that you don't want to break their hearts?"

He felt uneasy, "Yes…"

Onyx stared off into space, "But then of course there is the fact that you never seem to have the guts to just come out and say it either… whatever. Well, that is where I come in; I have some friends that just might be able to… what's a polite word… "Distract" the other girls from you."

He ignored the sleight and stood, open mouthed at what he was hearing, "You're going to set them up with other guys???"

Onyx grinned, "Yes I am. But don't worry; I'll make sure each of them are quite happy."

Unbidden, a day dream of just him and Moka, alone, floated into his mind…"

Onyx spoke slowly, "…Tsukune? You still awake?"

He snapped out of it, "Ah! Yes, of course!"

Onyx chuckled and offered his hand, "Of course. So? What do you think? You up for it?"

He shot another quick glance around before shaking the offered hand, "Yes."

Onyx started to walk away and paused, "…I just had a thought… If polygamy had been offered, would you have accepted it?"

He freaked out, "Of course not!!!"

Onyx laughed, "Right. Just leave it to me."

That evening:

Onyx walked back into the dorm about an hour after his old curfew, freedom was beautiful.

The boy at the front desk shouted to him, "Onyx! There's a package for you!"

He paused, "What? A package from who?"

The boy shrugged, "Doesn't say, just has the letters AK written on the tag."

He took the package and walked back to his dorm room, which he shared with one of the prospects for his scheme.

Ryu Shinobi saw the box in his hand, "…Who's the box from?"

He replied, "You think I know?"

He sat down on his bed, and opened the box. There was a bundle of photographs with a letter covering the first one.

He took the letter and opened it, it read:

_Onyx, I hope you enjoy these. Know that if I'm ever around that I'll be dropping by._

_Kiss, Ageha._

He blinked a few times… and looked at the first picture, "... oh hell no!!!!!" And threw the bundle away from him.

Ryu picked it up and shuffled through a few of them passively, "…Please tell me you didn't make a move on a teacher on your first day of freedom."

He narrowed his eyes at his roommate, "Shut up."

Episode one, end.


	2. Chapter 2

Tsukune dragged himself out of bed, hoping against hope that Onyx would begin whatever scheme that he had come up with. It would not only make things drastically easier for him, but it would make things better for everyone… or at least… that's how Onyx said it would go.

He glanced out his window, and muttered to himself, "This had better work…"

A monotone voice asked, "What better work?"

His eyes bugged out of his head and turned slowly towards the foot of his bed. There, peeking over the foot board… was Mizore.

He said nothing for about three seconds, "………" Then exploded, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!?"

Mizore gave him her trademark half smile, "I felt like it."

He let his head fall back onto his pillow, "Why me?"

He looked up and Mizore was still there, "Could you wait in the hallway for a minute?"

Mizore nodded, "…ok…" and shut the door behind her.

He sighed to himself, "At least Mizore-chan didn't create a scene like Yukari-chan."

He walked out into the hallway… and the entire dorm was staring.

Mizore turned to look at him, "Why are they all glaring at me?"

He swallowed the knot of terror in his throat, "… They aren't. They are glaring at me because they think you spent the night in my room."

Mizore gave him a quizzical look, "… But I did…"

His face deadpanned, "…They think you slept WITH me."

Mizore cocked her head at him, "Did you want to?"

He voice came out weak, "… no…"

He hung his head and slowly edged his way through the crowd towards the door; Mizore following behind, throwing a curious glance around at the other boys.

When they were outside he paused and let out a sigh of relief, "Whew… how long until our first class?"

Mizore replied, "About an hour. We can take our time." And wrapped her arms around his right arm.

He let out an exasperated sigh and started to walk towards the main building.

About five minutes later something cold touched the back of his neck, he reflexively slapped at it… snow?

He stopped walking and turned to Mizore, "Mizore-chan, are you making it snow?"

Mizore gave him a blank look for a moment, then looked up, he followed suit. It…really was snowing, and he couldn't remember anything like that happening around Yokai academy before.

There was a shout from further up the path, "Tsukune!"

He turned to look at the speaker. Onyx was waving to him from about ten meters down the path. There were two other people with him.

Onyx waved him over, "Come over here, I have some people you need to meet."

A spark of hope flared within him, one of the people he could see was male. Could he be one of the boys that Onyx was going to set one of the girls up with? As he got closer however, the cold increased exponentially. When he got over to Onyx and the others his teeth were chattering and there was frost in his hair.

Onyx shook his head, "Ryu, could you raise the temperature just a little bit? Not all of us present are as… durable as others."

The other girl spoke up, "You could have mentioned that earlier."

The cold abated and he stopped shivering, "Thank you."

The boy Onyx had addressed as "Ryu" smiled at him, "You're welcome."

Ryu was a tall, lanky boy. With white hair, grey eyes, and very pale skin. He almost looked like Mizore if he thought about it…

Onyx set a hand on Ryu's shoulder, "As I'm sure you've figured out, this is Ryu Shinobi. My roommate. And the girl standing behind me is Luna Tachibana."

Luna was a blond, with golden eyes and…

Luna shook herself and tore off a heavy coat, she spoke at Onyx, "Bought time you got your icy friend to stop freezing me."

He finished his thought after Luna had stopped moving. To the previous thought he added, 'and very large breasts.'

Onyx chuckled, "You didn't have to stick around if it was uncomfortable."

Luna snapped back, "I have my reasons, so shut up."

The golem shook his head, "If you say so…" Then he saw Mizore, "Oh… Mizore-san, sorry, I didn't see you there."

Mizore stared blankly, "… it's fine…"

Onyx dragged Ryu in front of him, "Guess what, my friend Ryu here, he's a…" there was a crackling sound as a layer of ice appeared over his mouth.

Onyx let go of Ryu and flicked the ice over his mouth, shattering it, "I get it, you don't want me to tell them. Fair enough."

Ryu kept smiling, "That is appreciated."

He waited for a few moments before suggesting, "Ah, should we get going? Class is going to be starting soon."

Onyx took a look at his watch, something else he must have "liberated" from his former master, "… About fifteen minutes left so… yeah that makes sense."

As they started walking, the temperature started to drop again.

Luna whined, "Ryu! Stop doing that!"

Ryu laughed, "Sorry, it's reflexive."

Luna bit back, "It's reflex for you to freeze everyone around you to death?"

He looked around for a second… Mizore was gone.

He turned around and Mizore was about three steps behind, "Mizore-chan? Are you ok?"

It seemed like Mizore snapped out of a trance, "Ah… yeah."

Mizore was distracted??? Onyx's plan couldn't have been working already could it? Nah, that was simply too much to hope for.

Moka waited by the main gate to the school campus. Tsukune should be coming through the gates soon. Thinking about Tsukune gave her a nice, warm and fuzzy feeling.

Tsukune walked through the gate, along with Mizore, Onyx, and two other people.

She started to run over, she shouted, "Tsukune!!!"

The tall, white haired boy winced, and she suddenly felt very, VERY cold.

Onyx watched while Moka shouted, Ryu winced, and reflexively froze Moka into a solid block of ice.

Tsukune's eyes bugged out of his head, "M… MOKA-SAN!!!"

Ryu scratched the back of his head, "Oh? You know her?"

Tsukune got in Ryu's face, "Of course I know Moka-san, why did you freeze her??????"

Ryu almost blushed, "I'm sorry, loud noises bother me."

Tsukune ran over and started to futilely pound on the ice.

He shook his head and grabbed Tsukune by the head, "Tsukune, leave this to someone that has more than thirty times as much experience at breaking things. I'll have Moka out in three seconds."

His finger hovered over the top of the ice block for about three seconds as he identified the shatter point… right there. He tapped the spot he chose and waited. The crack he created spider webbed out and through the entire block. Once he was satisfied with how much it had spread he brought a clenched fist down directly on the top of the block. The shards of ice fell away in one large slide as Moka slouched down from lack of oxygen.

Tsukune ran over and scooped Moka up, "Moka-san?"

Moka sneezed, now pink all over due to the cold, "… Good morning Tsukune."

Tsukune slung Moka up onto his shoulder, hugging her and blathering, "Oh, thank goodness you're all right…" etcetera etcetera.

He leaned over to Ryu and Luna, "Wait for it…"

Moka rolled her head over and bit Tsukune's neck.

_Kapuchu._

He chuckled, "Called it."

Tsukune's face deadpanned, "Moka-san, not in front of everybody."

He shrugged, "Why are you worrying about us? Really, you should be worried about them." He pointed behind Tsukune where Kurumu and Yukari were standing, mouths hanging open, and eyes burning with envy.

Tsukune's head slowly swiveled around to face both Kurumu and Yukari, "……… Ah…… hi?"

Kurumu ignored Tsukune entirely and grabbed Moka by the shirt, "What the heck are you thinking? Drinking from Tsukune in front of everyone!"

He reached forward and grabbed Kurumu by the back of her shirt, "Bad kitty, let go of the poor vampire."

Yukari froze for the slightest of moments… and fell over laughing.

Kurumu's face deadpanned, and she started flailing at him, swinging fists and feet, connecting with both but not doing anything, "You stupid pile of scrap metal, I am not your kitty!!!"

He held the succubus at an arm's length, "You have claws, and you are very moody. You ACT like a cat."

Ryu spoke a single word, "Class?"

He shook his head and dropped Kurumu, causing her to fall flat on her face, "Right… Tsukune, you'd better get Moka to the infirmary, being flash frozen isn't that good for something made out of flesh… or so I'm told."

As he started to walk towards Tsukune's class to inform Nekonome-sensei that Tsukune would be late, he noticed that Luna was no longer following him, but was glaring intently at Kurumu's retreating figure. Why on Earth would she be doing that? That was something to look into at a later date though; he had other things on his mind.

Kurumu sat at her desk, fuming over the golem. Onyx made her look like an idiot practically whenever she happened to cross his path, either by making a sarcastic comment (true though they were) or by putting her in an embarrassing situation. Like what had just happened, was Onyx dead set on making her life into a living hell? He was almost as bad as her mother… well, maybe not THAT bad.

At the front of the class, Nekonome-sensei spoke louder than usual, "Ok class, I have good news! Tomorrow we will all be going on a school field trip!"

That got her attention, maybe there was some way that she could get Onyx stuck where he couldn't get out, and there was always the opportunity to get somewhere alone with Tsukune…

She raised her hand, "Nekonome-sensei, where are we going?"

Nekonome-sensei smiled, "We've been invited to Egypt! Oh they have some wonderful fish there…" Nekonome-sensei paused and her expression changed from ditzy happy to concerned, "Shirayuki-san, are you ok?"

She turned towards Mizore's seat to see what the fuss was about… Mizore was usually pale but now… she was whiter that a sheet of paper.

Mizore was silent for a long moment, mouth ajar, looking almost ready to faint, before replying, "…………yes…"

Nekonome-sensei's head tilted to one side, "Maybe you should go to the infirmary, you look pale…er."

Mizore slumped down onto her desk, "I'm fine."

Nekonome-sensei continued to look concerned, but continued, "Ok then, be at the bus stop early tomorrow morning. Eight o clock sharp! And remember, bring lots of sun screen!"

Just as Nekonome-sensei finished the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. She began to race for the infirmary, where Tsukune had undoubtedly taken Moka. There was no way she was going to let that pink haired, sickeningly innocent vampire work Tsukune over while she wasn't there.

Mizore waited at the bus stop, dreading what was to come. Egypt meant desert, and desert meant lots of heat. She'd be lucky if she didn't melt within the first hour.

There was a shout from behind her, "Mizore-chan!"

Tsukune ran up with Moka, Kurumu, and Yukari on his heels. All of them in beach clothing; shorts, t-shirt, sunglasses. She didn't really have any of those.

Kurumu shoved her onto the waiting bus, "Move it stalker freak!"

This was going to be bad… but at least the bus had air conditioning, so she wasn't going to melt just yet.

Kurumu took a seat next to her and whispered in her ear, "Afraid that you're going to melt in the big, bad desert?"

She frowned and slowly froze Kurumu from the feet up, "… No…"

The cold apparently spread a bit too quickly, because Tsukune started shivering violently (as did both Moka and Yukari, although she really didn't notice that).

Tsukune's teeth chattered, "M… Mizore-chan… please stop… it's freezing… in here…"

She stopped freezing Kurumu, but only reluctantly. It's not like the succubus wouldn't have thawed out once they got to Egypt…

The bus driver at the front brought the bus to a stop abruptly, jarring all of them, before announcing, "We're here."

The door opened and let in a rush of burning hot air. Overwhelming the air conditioning in under a second. She would have tried to stay on the bus but she was carried off by the rush of people into the bright sunlight. Compared to the one that hung in the sky above the school, this sun was a bonfire next to a candle. Every breath was an effort... every movement a struggle. They had been let off on the top of a sand dune in the middle of the desert, with nothing in sight for miles. Why exactly were they here?

Nekonome-sensei shouted over the babble of the students, "This way class! We have a tight schedule to keep so no messing around."

The class began to move off, and Tsukune was swept along in the midst of Moka, Kurumu, and Yukari; leaving her to stumble along behind. It didn't take long of walking down the sand dune before she lost her footing and slid the rest of the way, sliding to a stop in the shadow of one of the dunes. The heat was only slightly less intense in the shade, but was still far above a level that she was comfortable with. Maybe she should just wait here… she blacked out from the heat.

Onyx stepped off of the bus into the blazing sunlight, gazing off into the distance where the rest of the school had gone.

Luna sprang off the bus behind him, "Wow… it's so open…"

He remarked, "Wish you could just cut loose and run out into the sands?"

Luna looked up at him, using her puppy dog eyes, "Would you cover for me so I could?"

He set his hand on Luna's shoulder, "Of course, just make sure that you're back in time." Before she ran off he called out, "You know that you didn't have to use the eyes on me, right?"

Luna stopped on top of a dune, going the opposite way from the scheduled trip, "I know, I just like doing it."

Luna vanished over the top of the dune where he assumed she transformed and continued off across the desert.

Ryu walked up behind him, "Guess it's just us huh?"

He replied, "Seems that way, unless you want to count the rest of Ririko-sensei's class and your "fan girls"."

Ryu's face twisted with distaste, "I would rather not."

He gestured off in the direction of the pyramids, "Then why don't we get a head start before Ririko-sensei can get her slaves into line."

Ryu looked back to where the Lamia was using the end of her tail to usher the students into a double line, "The idea is certainly attractive."

He started down the dune, "I second that. Now, the other classes should be about… Ryu?"

His roommate had stopped in the trough of the dune and was looking at something off to the side of the path. Now that he looked, there was a patch of purple hair visible through the sand.

He reached down into the sand… and hauled Mizore up out of it.

Ryu hesitated for a moment, "…Is she alright?"

He moved Mizore closer to Ryu… she moved, "I think so, the desert isn't all that kind to snow women though. Why don't you carry her?"

Ryu gave him a look, "And why would I do that?"

He dropped Mizore into Ryu's arms before speaking, "Two reasons. One, it's almost always cold around you and I think it would be better for her. Two… I'm barely able to stay on top of the sand as is. If I carried her I'd risk sinking into the desert and having to claw my way out up the side of the Sahara over a hundred miles away. Make sense?"

Ryu propped Mizore's head up against his shoulder, not looking altogether displeased, "Perfectly."

He turned his back on Ryu and started his way up the dune in front of him. All the while laughing to himself, this couldn't have worked out any better if he had tried.

Tsukune struggled to work his way free of Kurumu's clutches… and wasn't having much success. Kurumu had a vice grip on his right hand and was leading him from ruined structure to ruined structure without pausing for either Moka or Yukari. The latter of which was having trouble with the sand and was on the edge of tears.

Kurumu stopped him, "Tsukune, I'm hot, can you help me take my shirt off?"

His nose started to bleed, "WHAT?!?!"

Kurumu pushed herself closer, "Don't worry, I have a bra on this time."

He backed up against the wall of the ruin, "Ah… Kurumu-san… I…"

Moka yelled to him, "Tsukune! Mizore's gone!"

Kurumu was distracted by that shout long enough for him to slip out of her grasp and run over to Moka and Yukari.

He asked Moka, "How long has she been missing?!?"

Moka looked distressed, "I don't know, I haven't heard a word from her since the bus dropped us off."

He looked back the way they had came, "…Then… she's lost… out there?"

They all stared out into the desert for a long while.

He spoke what everyone was thinking, "We have to go find her."

Without waiting for Kurumu or Yukari, even Moka, he started to run back towards the desert. Even if it made things more difficult for him, he couldn't abandon Mizore out in the middle of the desert. He sprinted to the top of the first dune… something was catching the sun and sent a harsh glare into his eyes. He didn't see the glare for long though, he ran into Onyx only a few seconds later.

Yukari practically had to drag herself up the side of the sand dune to follow Tsukune. This was exactly why she hated to be short, the sand came up to her waist before she stopped sinking and it was really hot and… There was a loud smacking sound from the top of the dune. She looked up to see the golem slowly peeling Tsukune off of his chest.

Onyx tapped Tsukune on the forehead, "You really need to learn to watch where you're going, you know that Tsukune?"

Tsukune managed to speak, "Have you seen Mizore-chan?"

Onyx smiled, "Ryu has her, right behind me."

Right on cue, Ryu appeared. Mizore curled up in his arms.

Onyx continued, "She's sleeping now. Passed out from the heat I expect."

Kurumu commented, "No really? Did you think that up all by yourself?"

Onyx shot back, "It's the truth of the matter. And if you hadn't been so concerned with trying to get in Tsukune's shorts all of you might have been able to notice Mizore-san's problem before it escalated this far."

She couldn't help but start to giggle. Onyx had a way of being able to sensibly blame everything on Kurumu.

Kurumu turned red, and not from the heat, "You… you... IDIOT!!!"

Kurumu reached down, scooped up a handful of sand, and threw it in Onyx's face.

The golem shut his eyes to keep the sand out, blinked, and sneezed, "That's the best the kitty could come up with? Throw some sand from your litter box?"

Kurumu turned her back to Onyx and pouted, "Idiot."

Onyx started down the dune, "As much as I enjoy verbally abusing the succubus, I think we came here for a field trip didn't we? Shall we continue? I imagine that your teacher is already quite a long ways away."

Tsukune started to laugh while following, "Well… actually, Nekonome- sensei is hypnotized by a vendor selling fish. We've been wandering for about an hour because of that."

Kurumu burst out, "And there's NOTHING here! Just sand, rocks, sand, and more sand!"

Onyx smirked, "You didn't even go near the pyramid, did you?"

Moka answered, "But… Nekonome-sensei said that we weren't allowed to touch the pyramid."

Onyx's grin widened, "And where exactly is the harm in looking so long as there is no touching?"

She tripped and slid along the dune for a short distance before Onyx stopped her slide.

The golem smiled at her, "Hard for you to walk in this, isn't it?"

She was stubborn, "It is not!"

Moka spoke, "Yukari-chan, there's no harm in admitting it."

She remained stubborn, "I am not tired." And to illustrate her point, she pushed ahead of the others.

Ryu spoke a short phrase, "Watch out for snakes."

Tsukune watched both Yukari and Kurumu freeze in their tracks…

Yukari screamed, "Snakes?!?!" and rushed back to him as quickly as she could through the deep sand and threw herself up into his arms.

As he fell backwards from Yukari jumping on him, he turned, and panicked internally as he realized that he was falling backwards straight at Moka.

A large hand grabbed the back of his collar, followed by Onyx's voice, "Wow Tsukune, your balance is worse than the Leaning Tower of Pisa."

Kurumu shot Onyx a curious look, "What's that?"

The golem started to speak… and stopped, "I… I don't know… It might be a memory from when I was human that I can't fully recall at the moment."

Yukari started to squeeze him, "Tsukune, I'm scared of snakes."

He spoke with some difficulty, "Yukari-chan, there aren't any snakes that I can see. It's ok."

Ryu spoke again, "Are you blind? There are two just to your left."

He rotated his head slowly to the side, "Wh… Where?"

Ryu shifted his grip on Mizore so he had a hand free, "Two feet to your left, eyes just sticking out of the sand."

Yukari scrambled around so she was hanging on to him from behind, "…"

Onyx gave him a shove down the dune, "Just ignore them, and they will ignore you. That's how most snakes work."

He decided to take Onyx at his word, for two reasons. Reason one, Yukari was starting to get heavy, even with Ryu cooling off the area around all of them. Reason two… this was his selfish side wanting to be next to Moka rather than isolated by carrying Yukari.

Onyx walked up beside him, "Need some help?"

When he didn't answer Onyx simply reached down, plucked Yukari off of his back, and dropped her onto his own shoulder.

Onyx spoke to Yukari, "Don't fall off. Because I'm not going to pick you up."

Yukari whined, "No, I am not going to fall!" and grabbed onto Onyx's hair.

Onyx blinked a couple of times, "…………Ok then."

Mizore slowly became aware that she was no longer lying in the shadow of the dune, slowly being buried by the burning sands. Someone was carrying her in their arms. She opened her eyes and saw the same blazing sun… but it didn't hurt like before. In fact, it felt nice and cold. Like when she was home.

A voice sounded out, "Ah, Mizore-chan, you're awake."

She turned her head to face the speaker… Ryu? Onyx's roommate?

Words started coming out of her mouth, "Where… where am I?"

Ryu smiled, "Still in Egypt, following behind Onyx and the others. I would be right with them but… they are a bit noisy."

As if to reinforce the point, a shout emanated from up ahead, "Kurumu-chan! Let go!"

Ryu observed, "Kurumu-san is very persistent, isn't she?"

She glanced ahead to where Kurumu was practically throwing herself at Tsukune, "Yeah…"

Ryu kept talking, "Tsukune seems to have a problem with that."

She didn't quite understand what Ryu meant, "Huh?"

Ryu's eyes widened, like he had said something he shouldn't have, "Ah… I… didn't say anything."

She frowned and pressed, "What did you mean, "Problem"?"

Ryu blushed and the cool feeling abated somewhat, "Ah… well…"

She got in his face, "Tell me."

Ryu began to look even more flustered and the pleasant cold feeling vanished entirely, "Well… Onyx did say that Tsukune was having… "girl problems"."

She stared at Ryu for a moment, before slipping from his arms and sprinting forward towards Tsukune. She ignored the heat, something she never really thought that she could manage.

She ran up behind him, "Tsukune?"

Tsukune turned around and a large smile lit up his face, "Mizore-chan. You're ok."

She asked him point blank, "Am I a problem?"

Before Tsukune could say anything, Kurumu interjected, "Of course you are. Tsukune only wants, UMPH!!!"

The last sound was Onyx throwing one of his hands across Kurumu's mouth and burying the top half of the succubus in the sand off to the side of the path by throwing Kurumu like a javelin. The golem then did the same thing to Yukari. Moka was a few steps away and apparently didn't hear anything.

Onyx spoke to the stunned Tsukune, "I've made this conversation about as private as I can Tsukune. I think that now is the time to fess up. Speak the truth."

Tsukune's mouth moved, but no sounds came out, then he seemed to muster some courage and he took a deep breath, "… Mizore-chan… I… You really are my precious friend, and I mean that. But… I…" Tsukune squeezed his eyes shut, "I really don't feel… that way about you."

The resilience that she had momentarily built to the desert heat vanished like a puff of steam.

Tsukune gave her a sad smile, "I hope… that we can still be friends. Right?"

She felt a few tears forming in the corners of her eyes, "… Yeah… That's right."

Tsukune watched Mizore walk off into the desert, Ryu right behind her.

He spoke aloud, "I… hope I just did the right thing."

Onyx set a hand on his shoulder, "You did Tsukune. It is kinder this way. Although it hurts her now, it will feel better eventually. Ryu is a decent guy, and I think that he's quite smitten with Mizore. At any rate he'll be her shoulder to cry on. Now help me with these two. You get the little witch and I'll… get the something that rhymes with witch."

He shot Onyx a confused look, "Huh?"

The golem grabbed one of Kurumu's flailing limbs, "The succubus."

He began to pull Yukari out of the sand, "Oh."

Yukari whined and shook the sand out of her hair, "What happened?!?"

Onyx gave Yukari a straight face, "You fell off, head first. And Kurumu fell over forward because her breasts are too heavy."

He could practically hear the steam coming out of Kurumu's head. But she didn't say anything, just turned on her heel and began to follow Moka.

Yukari turned to him, "Tsukune, could you carry me?"

Onyx picked Yukari up and spoke, "Actually, I need to speak with Tsukune alone for a moment, you go have fun with your blue-haired imbecile of a friend."

Before Yukari could do much more than whine, Onyx threw her up the path ahead of them.

His face deadpanned, "Was that really necessary?"

Onyx turned back to him, "Yes it was, now… Mizore is done… or in the process of it anyway. All that is left is Yukari and Kurumu."

He started to walk forward, following the girls, "What about Ruby?"

Onyx stopped dead, "…Ruby? A fifth girl? Wow… you were even worse off than I thought. Ruby is a girl, right?"

He nodded, "You've probably seen her and just not known it was her. Last time I knew, she was the nurse, although it has probably changed by now. She gets random jobs around the school."

Onyx scratched his chin, "I see… I think I know who you're talking about now. Wears that REALLY out of style dress, two brown braids down the side of her head… usually? And tells anyone who will listen how many things have happened?"

He fought hard not to laugh, "Yeah… that's Ruby."

Onyx spoke, apparently deep in thought, "I see… makes my job a bit more difficult, but she is a cute girl so………." The golem trailed off. Onyx's gaze apparently captured by a black, stone obelisk out in the middle of a patch of quicksand.

He asked, "Onyx? Something wrong?"

The golem waved him off, "You go on ahead, there is something about this thing that I recognize… I think I've seen it before but I'm not sure when or how."

He waited for a moment, and started after the girls.

Kurumu fumed, walking slightly behind Moka, who was now carrying a sand covered Yukari. Out of nowhere, Yukari had fallen out of the sky and landed on her, pushing her open mouth down into the sand. She STILL had pieces of sand in her mouth that she couldn't get rid of. If she knew anything about anything though, it was that Onyx was the cause of this misfortune as well as everything else. She heard a noise behind her and turned around; Tsukune was coming up behind them.

She spoke, "Did the golem get lost?"

Tsukune looked surprised, "Ah, no. He's looking at one of the monuments off to the side of the path. He said he might have seen it before. He can't look at it closely though because of the quicksand."

The word "quicksand" gave her the best idea she had ever had, she spoke innocently, "How far back is that?"

Tsukune looked over his shoulder before answering, "You can still see him, at least I think that is him gleaming in the sun. Why?"

She shrugged, "No reason."

Tsukune walked by, she didn't even notice. She was too busy planning her vengeance. She slowly slipped away from the group, growing her wings and flying back to where Onyx was fixated on the monument. She flew up high to get enough momentum… and dove, striking Onyx high on the back.

Onyx teetered forward, off balance, turned around, and saw her, "… Really?"

She kicked him in the chest, toppling the golem over into the quicksand, "Really."

Onyx changed into his golem form, "When I get out of here…"

She interrupted him, "IF you get out of there."

Onyx sank to his shoulders, "No, WHEN."

As Onyx continued to sink his arm raised above the sand, slowly vanishing into the depths as she watched.

She waited a full sixty seconds before bursting out, "YES!!! He's gone and I can hook Tsukune without a stupid golem breathing down my neck! YAHOO!!!"

The air suddenly got cold, "What did you do to Onyx?"

She turned around and came face to face with Mizore, "… I didn't do anything."

Mizore gave her a no nonsense stare, "We just heard you."

She pouted, "That's for me to know and you to never find out."

The tall boy next to Mizore shook his head and gave her a look of… pity, "It seems she'll have to learn things the hard way."

With that, both Mizore and the boy started walking away. She started to look away but something drew her attention back with a jerk, Mizore was……… holding the boy's hand???

She started to laugh to herself, "Looks like one less rival for me!"

There was a panting sound and Nekonome-sensei ran into view, a large sack slung over a shoulder, "… Where's everyone else?"

She pointed her finger after Tsukune and the others, "This way" and began to follow the teacher, "Nekonome-sensei, your tail!"

One week later:

Kurumu kicked back in her desk. It had been an entire week and she had seen neither hide nor hair of Onyx, and without the golem's interference she had even wrangled Tsukune away from Moka, twice! Mizore was playing with something that was hung around her neck that gleamed and caught her attention.

She leaned over and whispered, "Where did you get that?"

Mizore held it the object out and she got a better look at it. It was a diamond shaped piece of… crystal that was hung on a silver chain. The sun scattered when it passed through, throwing miniature rainbows all over the place. If she looked at it hard enough… she almost could have called it a scale… but what could possibly have scales that big?

Mizore gave her a half-smile, "That's for me to know and you to find out."

There was a distant crashing sound that shook the building.

Tsukune had a flashback to the first time something like this had happened. Onyx had been "summoned" by his former master and been inexorably drawn out of the building, regardless of who or what might have been in the way. But Onyx was free now… wasn't he? There was a crash from the front of the room and Onyx, in his golem form, stepped through the remains of the door. The golem slowly swept a glare across the room.

Onyx made a beeline through the room towards Kurumu, "You!!!"

The golem grabbed Kurumu by the scruff of her neck and dragged her out of the room, Kurumu kicking and screaming the whole way… and flashing the entire class in the process. He stood and started to race after Onyx, if he was going to hurt Kurumu than he… he used the ruined doorframe to sling himself around the corner and his face ran full bore into Onyx's outstretched hand.

Kurumu continued to struggle as Onyx dragged her down the stairs, out the front door, and across the campus into the woods. There was a hole dug into the ground.

She yelled at the golem, "Why are you doing this to me?!?"

Onyx shifted back to his human form, and now she could see how royally furious he was, "You really need to ask? I was stuck on the bottom of the desert for over a week until I was able to claw my way up the side of the Sahara basin. Then I had to run across the entire breadth of Asia, hijack a boat, and run across Japan to get back to school. Do you have any idea how long it is going to take me to grind the sand out of my joints? It… itches."

To illustrate his point Onyx rolled his shoulder, sand fell in a cascade to form a small pile at his feet. Onyx then grabbed her by the head and held her in the hole while his free hand pushed dirt in around her.

Onyx didn't stop working while he spoke, "I think I'll make you appreciate what it's like to be buried alive. I think a week will do."

She started to panic, "But… But I…"

Onyx finished and walked away, not allowing her to say anything in her defense… but… what could she say?

Tsukune slowly woke up, with a splitting headache.

He rubbed his head and sat up, saying the only word that came to mind, "Ow."

Moka was right next to the bed, "Tsukune?"

His head felt foggy, "What… what happened?"

Moka shifted uneasily, "Onyx-san dragged Kurumu away… but he said that he wasn't going to hurt her, just teach her a lesson."

He was surprised, "Really? Did he say why?"

Moka nodded, "Yes, he said that Kurumu knocked him into a pit of quicksand while we were in the desert. That's why he was gone for a week."

Before he could say anything more, the door to the infirmary burst open.

A tall, menacing boy walked in, "Which student was…" the boy's eyes narrowed with hate, "…you…"

The appearance of the boy jarred his memory of freshman year, "You… you're the head of the public safety committee! Why are you here?"

A ball of fire formed in the former PSC leader's hand… then faded away, "I'm back because I never left. I've been bidding my time until I can get my revenge… on all of you. But I don't think now is the best time. You're not all in one place."

The fox demon turned on his heel and stormed out.

He unconsciously put his hand to his chest where that boy had impaled him upon a spear of fire, "Why now? Of all the times he could show up again… why now?"

Onyx started to walk towards the school building. He hadn't seen the slightest wisp of Ryu's presence since he had gotten back so he could assume that the guy was busy with… was that crying? He followed the sound of the noise, recognizing immediately where he was heading.

He stared down at the girl he had stuck in the ground, "… She cries in her sleep? Really?"

The ground around Kurumu's head was literally inundated with tears; it squished if he stepped on it.

He started talking aloud, "Seriously? Just how much can one person cry in less than a day?"

He crouched down to look at her face; tears were STILL streaming down like a torrent.

He face palmed, "Why do I always fall for this crap?"

He grabbed Kurumu by the head and yanked. With the amount of water in the ground the succubus came loose without much force exerted. He carried her out of the woods by the scruff of her neck. Moka was walking down the path towards him.

He stopped the vampire, "You, take this… girl back to her dorm. And don't you dare tell her that it was me that dug her out of the ground. Am I clear?"

Moka, with a scared look on her face, nodded, "Ok."

He started stalking towards the school, fuming at himself.

A voice called to him from the side of the path, "Hey!"

He stopped and turned to the voice. Luna was hanging from the branch of a tree by her knees. Upside down, skirt flung "up", arms crossed behind her head.

Luna shouted, "What was all that about?"

He replied, "You should know. You do the exact same thing with your eyes. That girl cries incessantly. Both are rather difficult to ignore." He started to walk again and paused, "… you want some help getting down?"

Luna swung in place, "Why would I need help getting down?"

He coughed politely, "Last time it did not end well. You landed on somebody, a freshman as I recall, and traumatized the poor kid."

Luna remained where she was, "It's not my fault that the kid didn't see me… or that the branch broke."

He glanced at the branch Luna was on, "… And you aren't concerned with the one that you're using?"

Luna replied, "No. I jumped on it a couple of times to make sure."

The branch started to bend, Luna did not notice.

He did, "… I think you might want to get down now."

Before Luna could either say anything, or do anything, the branch snapped and he snagged her by the leg before she hit the ground.

He hung Luna's face in front of him, "I hate to say it, but I told you so."

Luna pouted, "I could have landed gracefully."

He set his friend upright, "If there had been someone below you to land on." He gave Luna a light shove in the direction of the main building, "Come on, class is going to start soon."

Luna let out a huge sigh and almost toppled forward before he caught her by the shoulder, "… You really need to learn to compensate for that when going around on two legs, you know?"

Luna gave him a hurt glance, "… It's not my fault…"

He let out a sigh of his own, "I know that, and you know I know that. That's partially why we became friends, remember. Your dad was having a… temper tantrum about how you look in the school uniform."

Luna smiled, "And you punched him out because of it."

He shook his head, "I still don't really get why you're so happy that I sent your father on a one way trip to the horizon. When you get back home he's going to be furious."

Luna's face took on the look of a person lost in thought, "Oh, I think he might act a bit differently than that…"

He left her alone for the moment. Although he wasn't quite sure why Luna's eyes kept drifting from him to the void and back.

Ginei Morioka sat, perched on the railing surrounding the school roof, aiming his camera around the campus. Doing his usual peeking. He swept the lens of his camera across the school courtyard… and brought it to a stop on Ruby. With the hiring of a new nurse Ruby had gone back to being relatively freelance in her duties around the school. Right now she was sweeping the paving stones around the entrance, in her usual attire.

There was a thumping sound behind him, "Staring at any one girl in particular?"

He turned around, hiding his camera behind his back, "No… no one at all."

Onyx gave him a knowing look, "Tsukune and the others HAVE told me… and my circle of friends, about you perverted tendencies. The camera strap around your neck kind of gives you away to."

His shoulders slumped in defeat as the golem came over to the railing, "Fine… yes. The one by the gate. Her name is…"

The golem cut him off, "Ruby, I know. Smitten are we?"

He simply glared at the golem and remained silent.

A devious glint appeared in Onyx's eyes, "Why don't you… go say hi."

Without warning, one of the golem's hands clubbed him in the back and sent him flying towards the gate.

On the roof Onyx muttered to himself, "Rats… I think I got the angle wrong… oh well. Two down and two to go."

Ruby Toujou set her broom aside and sighed to herself. It had taken a lot longer than usual to clean up for some reason. A loud screaming noise drew her attention upwards… She was suddenly tackled by someone falling out of the sky; with their face landing…

She pulled the boy's face out of her chest and slapped him, "Pervert!"

The dazed face of Ginei, now with the addition of a large, red handprint across his face spoke, "It wasn't my fault… the golem hit me off of the roof…"

Deciding to humor the perverted werewolf, she glanced up at the roof of the school. Sure enough, a giant of a boy was leaning on the railing, and when he saw her glance up he waved cordially before turning around and vanishing from sight. She suddenly felt rather guilty for hitting Gin… but he had had it coming… still.

She helped Gin up, "I'm… I'm sorry."

Gin waved it off, despite the throbbing red mark on his face, "Ah, it's nothing."

She spoke, and immediately did not know why, "Is there… anything that I could do to make it up to you?"

Gin momentarily looked surprised, and at first, she thought that he was going to say something extremely shallow and perverted but… Gin replied, "I… have a photography sabbatical coming up… would you like to come?"

She hesitated for a moment, then the thought of Tsukune surrounded by four other girls slipped, unbidden, into her head, "I… I'd like that."

Tsukune led the girls, with the notable exception of Ruby, out into a small clearing. He was going to break the news about the PSC leader to all of them at once.

Kurumu spoke, "Ok Tsukune, why are we out here?"

He took a deep breath and opened his mouth, before he spoke though the reason for them being there was answered for him, "I believe that he brought you out here to warn you about me."

The PSC leader crashed down from the trees in an exploding fireball that threw each of them to the far corners of the clearing.

The fox demon was already in the final form that he had taken just before being defeated at the end of freshman year, "I was hoping that all of you would gather out of panic and I would be able to finish you all at once. Now that blasted werewolf and the other witch are gone. But four out of six in one place is good enough for me at the moment. The other two can burn when they get back!" The demon turned to look at their sprawled forms, "Now… who should die first… I say… the human!"

He felt the heat build, and saw the spear of flame erupt from the ether in front of one of the PSC leader's hands. He closed his eyes in anticipation of his demise… He felt a rush of air and something carried him out of the way. He opened his eyes… and saw a blond head of hair in front of him and… he was sitting on what looked like the body of a golden horse.

Disbelief filled his voice, "L… Luna-san?"

Luna shot a look at him over her shoulder, "Let me make this abundantly clear… I don't like you, and I never will. Understand?"

On the inside, he let out a huge sigh of relief, "Crystal."

Onyx marched into the center of the clearing, already in golem form, "… Wow… somebody has extreme anger issues."

The fox demon shouted, "Silence construct!!!"

A wave of flame emanated from the PSC leader and enveloped Onyx for a full sixty seconds. The flames vanished and Onyx stood, untouched.

Onyx rolled his shoulders, "Well… at least you melted all of the sand in my joints into glass. At least it'll be easier to clear out."

The fox demon snarled, "Come then, construct. Let's see what you're made of."

Onyx strode forward, "Steel, for your information. And you might just live to regret those words."

Onyx swung his right fist in a vertical chop that the PSC leader was easily able to slip around. The fox demon then danced out of the way of three more blows before skittering away to the edge of the clearing.

The PSC leader laughed, "Too slow to hit me, too powerful to fell. No matter, I don't need to kill you, construct, to take my revenge." Flames began to gather around the fox demon with a furious roar.

Onyx drew his fists apart, "Gather around me!"

Luna shot forward like a dart and he desperately grabbed onto anything he could to avoid falling off. He shut his eyes… he was suddenly surrounded by a low warmth, and felt… energized.

He heard Luna speak, a dangerous note in her voice, "Let. Go. Now."

He suddenly became aware of where his hands were, in a vice grip on Luna's breasts.

He flung his hands wide, blabbering, "I'm sorry!" Over and over. He fell off of Luna's back in the process.

He stood slowly… inside the protective bubble that Onyx was projecting. The fire was still there around his feet but… it didn't hurt at all.

His observations were interrupted by Luna, "Well? Summon your vampire friend already!"

Luna shoved him at Moka. He flailed his arms for balance… and one of his hands caught the Rosario, followed by one of Moka's breasts. The red flash quickly followed and he was aware of Vampire Moka's icy glare drilling into the back of his head.

Vampire Moka spoke, "Glad to see you to Tsukune."

He suddenly suffered a massive nosebleed.

Vampire Moka slowly gazed around the interior of the protective field, "… Is there a reason I'm not collapsing this time?"

Onyx replied, still as a statue, "That's because you were considered an enemy at the time, regardless of whether or not I thought so. Now I consider you an ally… although I'm relatively sure that you don't think the same way."

Vampire Moka glared up at Onyx, "You have a remarkable talent for stating the obvious."

Onyx glibly replied, "And for saying the things that no one else dares to say, especially about you. Now here is the next remark I have… unless you enjoy fighting naked, and heavily charred, I advise you to stay in the field."

Vampire Moka remain outwardly calm, but he thought that he saw an angry twitch in the corner of her left eye, "Until? We can't stay here indefinitely."

A wave of sheer cold washed through the area and extinguished all of the flames.

Onyx spoke, and dropped the barrier, "Until the cavalry arrives, which is now."

Ryu glided across the ground to the edge of the clearing.

The PSC leader turned toward Ryu, "I severely dislike interruptions. Leave before you burn to ash."

Ryu didn't move an inch, or speak a word.

The fox demon spoke, "Fine, on your head be it."

A huge fireball erupted from the combined fists of the PSC leader. At the same time, a giant spire of ice shot up out of the ground to envelope Ryu. The fireball hit the ice… and splashed off. Not even a single drop if ice had melted.

The fox demon roared in anger, "How can this be?"

Within the spire, a pair of purple eyes began to glow.

The PSC leader stared in astonishment, "Wha… What is this?"

The spire shattered… and out of the center of the mass uncoiled a vast, shining, scaled monster.

He stared at Ryu's true form, mouth hanging wide open, "A… A… A DRAGON?!?"

Mizore spoke, softly, "Uh huh."

All of them around Onyx turned to stare at Mizore, they all shouted at once, "You KNEW???"

Mizore just nodded and continued to stare at Ryu, a half smile on her face.

Ryu's mouth didn't move, but his voice carried across the clearing to the fox demon, "If you wish to surrender now, I doubt that you would be harmed."

Flames blazed around the PSC leader, "Never!"

Ryu uncoiled both his tail and neck, doubling his presence in the clearing, "So be it."

The fire around the PSC leader instantly went out, the fox demon glanced around in horror, "What?!? Why you mother…" the PSC leader was frozen solid before he could say anything else.

Kurumu ran out and stood in front of the frozen fox demon, "What was that? I CAN'T HEAR…"

Ryu winced from the shouting and froze Kurumu as well.

Onyx shook his head, "Ryu…"

The golem went over to both ice blocks, and shattered the one holding Kurumu, she fell to the ground in as if dead, but he could she her breathing so…

He turned to Vampire Moka and held out the Rosario, "Moka-san…"

Vampire Moka held her hand up, pushing him slightly away, "Hey, golem!"

Onyx stopped walking away, not looking back, "… Let me guess. You want a re-match?"

Vampire Moka shot Onyx an arrogant smirk, "You read my mind."

Onyx turned around and ground one fist into the other, "You realize that there is no way you can win."

Vampire Moka stuck one hand on her hip, "That's only what you say."

Onyx shook his head, "Vampiric pride… Tsukune, you and the others might want to clear out. This is going to take a very long time."

As if to illustrate the point Vampire Moka rushed Onyx, landed two swift kicks that did absolutely nothing, and dodged Onyx's return swing.

Luna started to lead the way out of the clearing, "Come on, when Onyx says that it's going to take a long time it's going to take a VERY long time."

He started to follow. The rest of the group followed shortly thereafter.

Yukari spoke to Luna, "What exactly are you?"

One of Luna's hooves pawed the ground angrily, "You've never seen a centaur before? How sheltered ARE you?"

Yukari's face lit up, "Then… that makes you part horse?"

Luna gave Yukari a curious glance, "… I suppose…"

Yukari gave a joyous shout, "Yay!!! I've always wanted to ride a horse, but my parents said I was too young!"

Luna trotted a few paces away, "I'm not a horse! I'm a centaur. I don't carry people for a living."

Yukari followed, "But you just carried Tsukune! I'm much lighter, you won't even know I'm there!"

After about five more minutes of pestering Luna gave in and Yukari rode on Luna's back to the girls dorm.

Next morning:

Tsukune walked along the path to the main building. Just when he saw the gates he heard loud noises coming from the woods off to the right of the path.

He muttered to himself as he cut through the brush, "They can't still be fighting… can they?"

Sure enough, when he got to the clearing from the night before… Onyx and Vampire Moka were still going at it, with the same fervor as when he had left last night.

He thought that one of Onyx's blows was about to land and couldn't help but shout, "Moka-san!"

Vampire Moka paused at his cry and shot a look over her shoulder to look at him. Onyx didn't seem to notice Tsukune, only Vampire Moka's momentary distraction. The golem launched himself into the air to attempt a full body slam on Vampire Moka. He couldn't help himself; he sprinted out into the clearing and shoved Vampire Moka out from under the flying mass of steel. He looked up just in time to watch Onyx come down…

Vampire Moka picked herself up off the ground and looked back to where the golem had created a miniature crater in the ground.

She ran up and kicked Onyx in the side of the head, "Get off of him you idiot!"

The golem slowly complied, "Yes oh queen of the universe…"

Tsukune lay, still clutching the Rosario, twitching, at the exact epicenter of the crater.

Onyx spoke, "Tsukune… you really need to stop trying to be a hero, you'll live longer."

She put her hands on her hips and shook her head, Tsukune was always trying to protect her, even when she didn't need protecting… it suddenly made her extremely jealous of her other side… a giant metal fist closed around her.

Onyx held her up in front of him, no expression visible on his metal face, "I don't recall you calling off the contest. Are you going to do so now? Or do I have to squeeze?"

Left with few options, she nodded her head, "Fine."

The golem let go, "Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go clean myself up before school." As he walked away Onyx paused, "… If it's any consolation, that was the longest fight I've ever had. The only people that I've never beaten ran away. You have my respect, if that means anything."

The golem left the clearing.

She spoke aloud, "Endurance… I guess he corners the market on that game…"

There was a groan from behind her, the PSC leader's head was all that had emerged from the block of ice that the dragon had encased him in. She walked over and prodded the fox demon in the side of the face.

The PSC leader twitched, "Wha… YOU!"

A smirk lit up her face, "Yes, me. Learned your lesson yet?"

In response, the fox demon started to violently rock the block of ice.

She smiled, not wholly disappointed by the response, "I take that as a no."

She kicked the boy right in the face, HARD.


	3. Chapter 3

Onyx walked to the front desk, asking for his mail and fully expecting the large package that came with it. Ageha Kurono REALLY didn't know how to take a hint, no matter how bluntly he worded his letters she just kept sending him things. Of course he couldn't throw any of them away, only God knew what would happen if someone should find dozens of packages addressed to him from… her. Ryu was lying on his bed in their shared room.

He walked into the room and tossed the package onto the small mountain of other things, "I swear, that woman is going to drive me to the brink of insanity. How many times am I going to have to write, point blank, "I do not like you. Stop sending me things." Before she realizes that I'm not just "playing hard to get" to quote her and…"

Ryu cleared his throat and interrupted, "Maybe you should just go along with it."

He shot his friend a shocked, yet annoyed glare, "Really? You honestly expect me to do that?"

Ryu replied, "She likes you because you know high fashion. Correct?"

He grimaced, "I assume that is the reason… and the old adage of "you want what you can't have" comes into play."

Ryu stared at the ceiling, "If I understand things, succubae are very flighty. She wouldn't likely stay around for long. You could deal with that I think."

He blinked a few times before responding, "… Ryu… you obviously haven't heard the term "destined one" yet. But this woman has claimed that I'm hers. Essentially, she is saying that she wants to marry me. Rather like Tsukune and that insufferable, blue-headed lout that follows him around spouting the same nonsense as her mother."

Ryu slid the letter out from the latest package that Ageha had sent, "You mean Kurumu-san?"

He shook his head as Ryu opened the letter, "Really? How many other succubae do we know?" He paused for a moment while watching Ryu read the letter, "The usual romantic nonsense I suppose?"

The dragon read a few more lines on the letter, "… Yes… and no."

He snatched the piece of paper out of his roommate's hands, "Let me see that…" He began to read out loud, "Dearest Onyx"… ok why does she insist on saying that every time? It's not like I have ever referred to her with even the slightest bit of feeling… "I would like you to know before everyone else at the school. I heard of what Shirayuki did for the school last year and thought I could do something of the same. It will have the dual purpose of getting my daughter in a position where she can woo Tsukune to her heart's content, and allow me to spend time with you." He gagged as he read the last few words, "Oh crap… Ryu, do you have any idea what this means?"

Ryu shrugged and continued to stare at the ceiling, "That she really likes you?"

He face palmed, "That… and that she's inviting the whole school to do something. And knowing her… it's going to be rather risqué at best."

Ryu did not respond.

He commented, "… Why must you always be SO serene? It gets annoying."

Ryu remained silent.

A wicked grin twisted his face, "Well… you won't be so calm if I invite your mother to the school."

Ryu's eyes shot as wide as dinner plates, "You… you wouldn't!?!"

He laughed, "Of course not, I just had to mess with you a bit. Like I just said, your infinite amount of serenity gets annoying… well, at least to me. Mizore like it though, doesn't she?"

Ryu blushed, "… Yes…"

He smiled and gave his friend a pat on the back, "I'm happy for you, friend. But let's just hope that that imperialistic, snooty, elitist mother of yours does NOT decide to show up."

Ryu's blush deepened, "Don't talk like that about my mother!"

He opened the door to leave, "Even though it's true?" He shut the door behind him and chuckled, "Momma's boy."

Tsukune exited his dorm room, relieved again that one of the girls hadn't snuck into his room in the middle of the night, although… he really couldn't think he would be mad if Moka did that… he shook his head to get his mind out of the gutter. All of Kurumu's point blank forwardness was having a negative influence on his head.

Mizore was waiting outside the dorm, "Hello, Tsukune."

He momentarily forgot that he had told Mizore how he really felt, "Ah…! Oh, good morning Mizore-chan."

Mizore just smiled at him, not getting in his face or getting too close, "Did you sleep well?"

He felt a huge weight lift off of his shoulders. It was so much easier to just talk with Mizore now, no pressure, and no need to worry about breaking her heart by saying the wrong things.

The air suddenly got cold, "Mizore-chan?"

He turned towards the dorm doors, Ryu was standing there.

Mizore turned to him, "I'll see you in class, Tsukune."

Ryu then walked off with Mizore, well, not so much walking as sliding across the frozen ground that he spontaneously created.

There was a voice behind him, "The way you're staring after Ryu I would almost think that YOU like him. But I know you don't swing that way."

He looked down at the shadow looming over him, "Onyx-san… what are you talking about?"

The golem walked around in front of him and shook his head, "Never mind, listen, I'm not going to be in the school today, I have some… errands to run. I think though that you'll know why shortly after the school day begins though."

He gave Onyx a curious glance, "What do you mean?"

Onyx shot him a smile, "Hey, trust me. I think you'll be quite happy with what I'm doing…" He leaned in, "And so will Moka-san. But that's all I'll say at the moment."

The golem turned away, walking towards the tunnel leading to the human world. What could he need to do out there? He shrugged and started to walk to class, Onyx had never let him down up until now, why should he doubt the golem this time?

At thirty yards from the dorm he heard a noise in the tree above him; he looked up and saw a blond head of hair, "Luna-san?"

Luna's eyes snapped open and she stood up on the branch, "There you are! I have something to, AHHH!"

The branch Luna was standing on snapped off, Luna fell straight for him…

Luna shook her head. Onyx was right; she really did have to stop climbing trees until she could eyeball the stronger branches… where had that stupid Tsukune gone? Wait… he had been underneath the tree when the branch had broken… she looked down. There was a brown head of hair lying on the ground; the face that went with the head was firmly beneath her breasts.

She pushed herself up onto her knees and slapped Tsukune as hard as she could, which was pretty hard, especially seeing as how she lifted weights with the boys, "IDIOT!!!"

Tsukune stood up, which made her fall onto her back, "What did I do? You fell out of the tree onto me, how is that my fault?!?"

She stood and pouted, "Because I'm the girl here, and I say so."

Tsukune's face went completely blank, "… Uh… I don't think that it works that way."

She grabbed Tsukune by the front of his shirt and lifted, "It works that way, unless you want me to punch you right in the face!!!"

Tsukune waved his hands in surrender, "Ok! You win!"

She dropped him, "Good, now that we have that straightened out…"

Tsukune interrupted her, "What do you want?"

She yelled, "DON'T INTERRUPT ME!!!" And continued in a softer voice, "I want you, to get that blue haired seductress away from Onyx. I don't care how you do it, pretend to be her boyfriend… blackmail her with something… I don't care; just get her away from my Onyx."

Tsukune gave her a deadpanned look, "Kurumu-chan?"

She exploded, "DO NOT SPEAK HER NAME AROUND ME!!!" And calmed down, "Yes… her."

Tsukune asked, "What do you mean "my" Onyx?"

She felt her face flush, "Ah… nothing! Did I say "my" Onyx? I don't think I said that."

Tsukune gave her a no nonsense look, "You did."

She cleared her throat and calmed down, "Whatever… oh, and by the way. We never had this conversation" she got up in Tsukune's face with a fist clenched near his face, "Understand?"

Tsukune's eyes had fear in them, "… Ok…"

She dropped Tsukune and started to walk towards the school, smiling to herself. Things were starting to look up… she tripped over the branch that she had been standing on and fell flat on her face. Her hands instinctively yarded down on the back of her skirt.

She surged to her feet and turned back to Tsukune, "Did you see anything?!?!?"

Tsukune was looking the other way, "No… nothing at all."

She felt the urge to smack Tsukune again, but suppressed it. If she were too mean to the guy he probably wouldn't do what she wanted him to do, but if she didn't push Tsukune hard enough he wouldn't do what she wanted him to do either. It was a bit of a balancing act, but for Onyx… she was willing to do just about anything.

Kurumu sat at her desk, barely paying attention to the lesson that Nekonome-sensei was trying to teach. It was something on literature or something… She was more concerned with Tsukune. Even with Mizore dropping her affections of Tsukune in favor of Ryu left her up against the blood sucker and Yukari. If she wanted to cheat she could use her succubus abilities… she shook her head. She had promised herself that she wouldn't do that. It just got really hard to remember that sometimes.

The bell rang and she got up, but Nekonome-sensei was standing in front of the door, "Just a moment class. I have an announcement to make!"

The entire class paused, hoping that it was going to be something good. Like the field trip to Egypt.

Nekonome-sensei continued, "I'm sure all of you recall the skiing trip from last year?"

The class around her erupted in celebration.

Nekonome-sensei finished, "We are not going back to the mountain."

Silence descended, and the entire class began to glare at the teacher, thinking that she was just stringing them along.

The teacher smiled, "We're going to the Caribbean!"

The class roared with approval, and while the others in the room were busy filing out, she was planning every detail down to the second of what she would do with Tsukune. If he didn't kiss her by the end of his own free will… well, she might just hit somebody.

Nekonome-sensei yelled after them, "We're leaving in two days! Pack lots of sunscreen!"

She walked up behind Moka, "Hey."

Moka turned her head to face her, "Oh, Kurumu-san. What is it?"

She let a petulant grin cross her face, "Guess what's in the Caribbean."

Moka seemed to think for a moment, "… Well, there are all the different kinds of…"

She interrupted, "Not that you idiot, WATER, lots and lots of water. We're going to be surrounded by water all the time."

A fearful expression flew over Moka's face, "Ah… wh… why are you telling me this?"

She threw an arm over Moka's shoulder, "I'm just being a good friend. If you're going to be terrified the entire time then you shouldn't go."

Fear flickered through Moka's eyes and she could tell that the vampire was actually considering it.

Tsukune walked up, "Moka-san, are you excited about the trip?"

All she could think to herself was, 'Why???'

Moka gave a very unconvincing, "… Oh, of course!"

Tsukune caught the hesitation, "Moka-san, are you ok?"

Moka meekly replied, "Ah… well… the water…"

Tsukune let out a relieved sigh, "Oh, that's it. You don't have to go near it if you don't want to."

The fear left Moka's eyes, and she seethed inside.

She bumped Moka to the side with her hip, "What do you think Tsukune, should I wear a one piece, or a two piece?"

Tsukune's eyes widened as she pressed against him, "Ah… Well… I…"

She smiled, "A two piece it is then!"

Moka commented, "But, Kurumu-san… Tsukune didn't say anything."

She turned to the vampire, "I could see it in his eyes. You don't even own a suit, do you?"

Moka *sweatdrop*, "Ah… no."

She turned back to Tsukune, "I have to go pack, see you tomorrow!"

As she ran off she snickered to herself, let Tsukune mull THAT over!

Kurumu ran off and he turned back to Moka, she looked like she was thinking about something that made her uncomfortable, "Moka-san?"

Moka looked insanely nervous, "Tsukune, um… should I go?"

He replied instantly, "Only if you feel comfortable doing so."

Moka turned red, "Tsukune… should I…" she left the question hanging but he knew what she was asking.

Moka continued, "Would you… help me pick one out?"

His mind immediately conjured up an image of Moka in a white swim dress… he responded, "Ah, of course." He hoped that his response hadn't made him sound like a pervert.

Moka looked up at him, "Tsukune…"

He found himself staring again, "Moka-san…"

He leaned in…

_Kapuchu!!!_

Moka blushed, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it."

He waved it off, "It's ok, Moka-san."

Moka looked up at him, "Tsukune… could you… just call me Moka?"

He fumbled out, "Of course Moka-sa… Moka."

There was a moment of awkward silence.

He hesitantly put forward, "So… after school tomorrow?"

Moka blushed even more, "That… sounds good."

He extended his arm, "Walk you back?"

Moka took his arm and smiled up at him, not saying anything; then again, Moka really didn't have to.

Onyx let out a long sigh as he walked back to his dorm. Arrangements for this kind of thing weren't easy to make after all. More than once he had had to… persuade people to do what he had wanted, which was nothing special really. All he had asked was for a few of the seats to be switched around. Was that REALLY that hard to accomplish?

He heard a shout from up ahead, "Onyx-san!"

He lifted his head; Tsukune was walking his way, with Moka on his arm… and looking quite comfortable with the situation.

He responded, "What perfect timing, I was just about to go looking for you."

A look of confusion played over Tsukune's face, "What would you need me for?"

He shrugged, "I don't really NEED you for anything, I just have some things to discuss with you. About what I mentioned this morning…"

Tsukune's eyes widened as the human realized what he was talking about, "Oh, what is it?"

He pulled two slips of paper out of his coat pocket, "These are your tickets for the flight tomorrow. The bus can't get all the way to the Caribbean; Egypt was pushing the limit as it was. You will be dropped off outside of the Tokyo airport and ushered on to the flight… I… "arranged" for you two to sit next to each other."

Moka's face lit up, "Really?!?" She hugged Tsukune tighter, "I'm so happy!"

Tsukune gave him an odd look, "How did you do that?"

He chuckled, "Well… I simply asked politely… while looming over them with my fists propped on wherever they were working. Intimidation is remarkably easy to do if you know how."

Tsukune looked appalled, "You didn't hurt anyone… did you?"

He replied swiftly and sarcastically, "Yep, after I got them to do what I needed them to do I crushed each and every one of them into a fine paste. Really Tsukune, do you honestly think I would do that?"

Tsukune laughed uneasily, "Well… it could happen."

He laughed in return, "That's true, it certainly COULD happen."

A small splat noise interrupted his mirth. His head slowly rotated to the source of the noise… a bird had taken a dump on him… A blinding rage overcame him, "I HATE BIRDS!!!!!"

Without knowing that he did, he tore a huge chunk of rock out of the ground and hurled it at the feathered fiend. There was a satisfying puff of feathers… then blissful silence.

A terrified Tsukune asked, "O… Onyx-san?"

He came back to his senses, "… What? Oh… sorry about that. Birds just do that to me."

Moka asked, "But… why? They're so sweet."

He let out a mocking laugh, "Sweet? Stand in the same spot for around seven hundred years and see how sweet you think birds are after that. If the occasional passerby hadn't been there to scrub me clean… and OH the noise! I had a sparrow nest right on my shoulder for the length of its natural life. Quite frankly it's a miracle that I am still sane after that."

Tsukune changed the subject, "And where will you be sitting on the plane?"

Tsukune watched as there was a dramatic shift in Onyx's demeanor. The golem was usually calm and reserved… but now…

Onyx let out an almost nervous laugh, "Well uh… I can't ride the plan you see. Remember how heavy I am? The uh… plane wouldn't be able to get off the ground so… I'll get there another way. But don't worry! I'll be there… yeah… see you later."

Onyx turned around on the ball of his heel and walked off.

He thought out loud, "Could Onyx-san be… afraid of flying?"

Moka let out a sudden gasp, "What about Kurumu-san and Yukari-chan?"

He thought for a moment, "… Onyx-san didn't say…"

Next day, after school:

Kurumu felt good. Tomorrow, early in the morning, they would be off for sun, fun… and Tsukune. She was going to have SO much fun with him on this trip where she could flaunt her assets… well, more so than usual. She started to walk by the school store; they might have had something even skimpier that what she currently had… she caught sight of something pink. Her eyes immediately locked on to what she had seen… just a pink book cover. She breathed a sigh of relief. She had almost thought that Moka was in there… She was starting to get paranoid about that vampire for some reason…

She walked into the store… and dove behind one of the bookshelves. Tsukune was standing at the back of the store, watching one of the changing booths. There was no way that…

Moka poked her head out of the curtain, keeping the fabric covering the rest of her, "Tsukune, um…"

Tsukune responded, "It's ok Moka, I'm not going to laugh."

Tsukune had dropped the "san". WHY???

Moka let the curtain go… it was a modest two-piece, but still. That blood-sucker was going on the trip and was going to steal Tsukune from her!!! She turned away and pressed her back against the shelf. No… this was not going to happen! If Moka wanted to play that game, then she was going to be in for a BIG surprise!

Tsukune woke up, and quickly glanced down at the foot of his bed. Good, there was no one there. He breathed a sigh of relief. Today was the day that they were leaving for the Caribbean. Moreover, he was going to sit next to Moka for the entire flight! He suppressed the urge to shout out in joy.

He spoke aloud while gathering his things, "I wonder how Onyx-san will get there…"

There was a knock on his door, "Tsukune-san, you awake?"

He opened the door without worry; none of the girls had ever added a formality, "Yes?"

One of the other boys was standing outside his room, "There's a girl here that wanted to…"

Kurumu pushed past the boy and got in his face, "Good morning Tsukune!"

He was only able to see for a one second before Kurumu grabbed his head; he tried to resist, "Kurumu-san…" He braced his arms against the door to stop his forward progress, "Why are you naked?!?!"

Kurumu stopped pulling and looked at him in shock, "I am not naked. Look!"

Aware of the fact that he was not going to get out of his room without being mauled by Kurumu, he did as he was asked. Kurumu was wearing a swimsuit but… it hardly covered anything, hence his initial reaction. That and the color was almost the same as Kurumu's skin…

He gave up and let go of the doorframe, Kurumu promptly started to smother him.

When Kurumu let go he spoke, while gasping for air at the same time, "Kurumu-chan… the bus."

Kurumu grabbed him by the hand, "This way Tsukune!"

Kurumu sprinted through the crowd of boys, almost using him as a club to force her way through the masses. He would have been shouting "sorry" every time it happened but… he was too busy clutching at his head every time Kurumu inadvertently dragged him against one of the doorframes or support poles. His face was going to be one large mass of bruises by the time he got to the bus…

Once he was close enough to the bus stop Kurumu finally let go and allowed him to sink to the ground in exhaustion.

He heard Moka's voice, which was enough to get him to his feet, "Kurumu-san… the bus isn't bringing us all the way there."

Kurumu's mouth fell open, "What?!?" Kurumu turned to the bus driver, "Tell me that she's joking!"

The bus driver nodded slowly, never showing his face, "The vampire isn't pulling your leg. You are only going half of the way on my bus. The rest of the way is by plane."

Yukari appeared from behind Moka, "Ha ha, Kurumu-chan is going to look like a slut on the plane!"

Kurumu's face turned beet red, and she ran off so fast that the ground looked singed.

The rest of them piled onto the bus and waited for the other students.

He asked the bus driver, "Have you seen Onyx-san?"

The bus driver spoke, but did not turn around, "Yes, the boy is already gone though. I think he means to meet you at your final destination."

On a random ship at sea:

Onyx turned the engine crank as fast as he could, which was significantly faster than the coal fired engine could push the vessel.

The man behind him was watching with mouth open, "How… how are you doing that?"

He replied while furiously turning the prop, "Will and determination. Now get up top and let me know how fast we're going!"

The Airport:

Yukari stared up at the high glass ceiling in the atrium of the "airport". It was so big…

She heard Tsukune's voice, "Yukari-chan, don't wander off!"

Tsukune almost appeared to materialize out of the crowd, "Yukari-chan, there you are."

She continued to stare upwards, "It's so big…"

Something touched her hand, she looked down and saw Tsukune holding it, she looked at him, "Tsukune?"

Tsukune smiled at her, "So we don't lose you in the crowd before we get on our plane."

She followed Tsukune through the crowd, returning all of the stares that people were throwing her way.

She asked Tsukune, "Why is everyone staring at me?"

Tsukune glanced around quickly, and then knelt so he could whisper in her ear, "You look like a witch."

She started to say, "But I am a…"

Tsukune put his hand over her mouth, "Not here Yukari-chan, this is the human world remember."

Tsukune led her over to the rest of the group, who were waiting in line for something.

She looked at the long line of people, "What is everyone waiting for?"

Kurumu answered, "The tickets, and when we get them, I'm sitting next to Tsukune."

Tsukune opened his mouth, "But, Kurumu-chan… seats are assigned."

Kurumu hopped in place once, to look over the crowd, "… Then I'll just make sure I get assigned to the seat next to yours!"

She looked to the front of the line… the one handing out the tickets… was a guy.

The horrible realization hit, "Kurumu-san, you aren't going to…"

Kurumu snickered, "Of course I am. I only promised not to use my powers on Tsukune, because that would be cheating."

She whined, "It's also cheating if you use them to get alone with Tsukune!"

Tsukune watched, nervous at the scene that Kurumu and Yukari were making in the center of the ticket line.

A feeling of cold appeared, "Tsukune-san, why are they arguing?"

He turned around to look at Ryu, "They're arguing because…" he paused, confused by what he was looking at, "… Ryu-san… why are you wearing ear muffs?"

Ryu responded with two words, "It's loud."

He shook his head at the obvious answer, "Right… they are fighting over who gets to sit next to me, and whether or not it's cheating for Kurumu-chan to use her powers on other men to get alone with me."

Ryu only smiled, "That's confusing."

He looked around for a moment, "… Where's Mizore-chan?"

Front of the line:

Mizore stared at the man that was giving the tickets, "I'm sitting with him." She pointed back at Ryu.

The man seemed incredibly unnerved by her stare, "Ah… ok. That is easily doable. One moment…"

Middle of the line:

Tsukune nodded as he looked forwards and saw Mizore's distinctive hairstyle, "Never mind."

Ryu glanced over at where Moka was trying, without success, to break up the fight between Yukari and Kurumu, "Do you have the tickets that Onyx got for you?"

He glanced up at Ryu in momentary surprise, "Ah… how do you know?"

Ryu smiled, "There are times when Onyx is subtle, and then there are times when he is not. This is one of the latter."

He unconsciously put his hand to his shirt pocket; the slips of paper were still there, "Yes."

Ryu took a step towards Yukari and Kurumu, "Take Moka-san to the terminal, I'll make sure these two get their own seats, ok?"

He followed behind Ryu and took Moka by the hand, "Thank you." He turned Moka around, "Moka, our flight is boarding, we should get there."

Moka glanced back at where Mizore and Ryu were physically dragging Kurumu and Yukari apart, "But… what about…"

He spoke before Moka had finished asking the question, "Ryu-san is going to make sure that they get on the plane."

Moka looked back at the other couple, and blushed, "… Ok…"

As he started to lead Moka towards the terminal he noticed something new. Something that had not been there the last time he had been to the airport, a long line of metal arches with uniformed security officers at both ends.

There was a voice off to his side, "Intimidating, aren't they?"

He turned to the voice, that of an aged business man, "What are they?"

The old man laughed, "Metal detectors. They say that they should be able to keep terrorists off of the planes. But I'm of the mind that if they want to get on our planes then they are going to get on the plane, one way or the other. Could be difficult for your sweetheart there; what with that pretty necklace and all… excuse an old man's ramblings. I'll be off now."

The old man began to walk away, but he had left behind a feeling of anxiety.

Moka spoke behind him, "Tsukune, what did he mean 'difficult"?"

He replied, "You're going to have to remove the Rosario to get through security."

Moka's eyes widened, "But… I can't."

His mind was scrambling, "I know, and it would cause a scene if I took it off for you in the middle of the lobby…"

Moka spoke suddenly, "I've got an idea."

He began to be dragged off into the crowd, he asked, "What are you thinking?"

Moka didn't look at him, "… You're going to have to go through… with the other me."

He replied, "I knew that… just… where am I supposed to…" he saw where Moka was leading him, "What! I can't go in there!"

Moka walked into the ladies restroom and shut the door on his arm, "Just… pull." He felt his hand being guided onto the familiar cold metal of the Rosario.

He looked away, "I'll see you soon." And pulled, feeling the cross come away in his hand.

A few seconds passed, followed by the sound like a belt being undone. Vampire Moka stepped out shortly thereafter, the collar was absent from around her neck and was held loosely in her hand.

Vampire Moka rubbed the back of her neck, where the collar would have covered, "You have no idea how nice it is to not be wearing that thing for once."

He remained silent. He had always been slightly unnerved that there was this other side of the girl he loved, especially the fact that they were one in the same body.

Vampire Moka smirked, "Don't worry Tsukune; I know what has to be done. Come then, this will be interesting."

He started to follow vampire Moka across the floor, noting that people were parting before her like one would get out of the way of a shark, "Please don't kick anyone."

Vampire Moka did not choose to respond. When they both arrived at the security station he went first. Following the instructions of the uniformed security officers without question or complaint. What worried him was when he had to present his ticket to the man at the far side of the checkpoint. The photo of Moka that was on her ticket was that of the Moka he liked. Vampire Moka not only looked different, she acted different. Vampire Moka began to follow the instructions of the officers... vampire Moka got to the ticket check.

The officer carefully compared the picture that he was holding to the girl in front of him; Tsukune knew that they didn't match, the officer spoke, "Well... Akashiya-san, we seem to have a bit of a problem. This picture does not match."

Vampire Moka leaned on the officer's desk and spoke in a voice so sultry it could have melted lead, "I assure you, that's me."

The officer went starry eyed, "... Of course Akashiya-san... go right ahead. Sorry for delaying you!"

Vampire Moka nodded to the other security officers, who were all doing something similar to the one at the desk, and spoke in the same tone, "Thank you."

Vampire Moka gathered the few things that she had brought, and walked over to him, she spoke in her usual voice, "You can close your mouth now, Tsukune."

He shut his mouth to cover his shock, "Sorry..."

Vampire Moka let out a short laugh, "Of course." There was a pause before she continued, "Well? Are you going to lead the way or not?"

He shook himself out of his daze, "Of... of course. This way, Moka-san."

Vampire Moka began to follow, while speaking, "You call the other me just "Moka". I would like the same."

He replied by nodding his head and gesturing to the gate where the rest of the class would be assembling.

The woman at the desk in front of the connection tube smiled at the both of them, "Hello, are you two part of the Yokai Academy trip?"

He nodded and showed the woman his ticket while vampire Moka did the same thing.

The woman walked towards the tube, "This way please." Once they had reached the two seats that were assigned to him and Moka the woman spoke again, "Store your carry on luggage in the overhead compartments. Have a wonderful flight!" The woman turned around and exited back out the way they had come from.

Vampire Moka took the window seat, and he sat down next to her. He wordlessly offered the cross of the Rosario.

Vampire Moka reclined the seat, perhaps a little too far to be comfortable for the person behind, "Could you wait for an hour or so? This is the first time I've been out for more than five minutes in over a year, and fighting does not count."

He capitulated, "Ah… Ok."

About five minutes passed in silence before the other students started filing on to the plane.

A random thought occurred to him, "Moka… what's it like… to be sealed inside the Rosario?"

Vampire Moka glanced over at him, surprise evident on her face, "… Why are you asking?"

His eyes were staring off into space, "Well… you spend most of your time in there and… well…"

Vampire Moka snatched the Rosario from him, "I don't want to talk about it." And clipped the Rosario back around her neck.

Moka looked around for a moment, "… We're on the plane, right?"

A commotion came from the connection tube.

Kurumu ran around the corner, "Tsukune…" Saw him sitting next to Moka in the two only seating, "WHY?"

The flight attendant spoke behind Kurumu, "Please continue to the back Kurono-san."

Kurumu's shoulders slumped in defeat and she walked all the way to the back of the plane. There was a similar scene with Yukari before the little witch followed Kurumu to the back of the plane. Mizore and Ryu boarded shortly after that and took their seats around the middle of the plane. The students around Ryu immediately started complaining about the cold.

Shortly after the plane took off Moka asked him, "Tsukune, how long do you think the flight is?"

He thought for a moment, "Well, we are flying across the entire Pacific ocean… so it's going to take at least fifteen hours or so…"

Moka gave him a sheepish look, "Tsukune, would you mind if I slept for some of the way?"

He replied, "By all means."

Moka smiled at him and leaned her head on him. Within minutes, she was sound asleep. He couldn't have asked for a better way for the flight to start.

Onyx stood on the wharf, waiting for the rest of the student body to arrive. The ship he had used to get here had only docked moments ago despite his zealous efforts on the crank shaft. He had pushed the ship so fast that they had actually offered him a job doing the same thing for the way back. He'd take them up on it, but only for the ride back. Although, it would be something to consider after he finished at Yokai Academy… but that was a year or two off. The rest of the class charged onto the pier, Tsukune and Moka were easily visible in the crowd because of the latter's pink hair. As were the other two girls that he still had to set up.

Tsukune walked right up to him, "Onyx-san… how did you get here?"

He replied bluntly, "By boat."

Kurumu pointed at him, "That would explain why you're covered in grease."

He glanced down at his hands and arms, "… Right…" And hopped off of the wharf in to the shallow water of the bay.

On the bottom, he took a handful of sand and scrubbed it across every inch of his body that he could see grease on. Sand, while irritating, was as close to a wire brush as he was going to get out here. The small group was waiting for him as he walked from shore back onto the wharf.

He gestured to the loading ramp, "Well, shall we get on?"

Kurumu grabbed Tsukune's hand, "Let's go Tsukune!"

The succubus dragged Tsukune up the ramp, Moka and Yukari chasing and verbally protesting.

He glanced up at the top of the ramp, "Oh I am SO not going to enjoy this "vacation"."

Tsukune glanced around when Kurumu finally stopped pulling. All the students were milling about in the area just at the top of the ramp. He heard a thumping sound and glanced over his shoulder to where Onyx had just boarded. The ramp fell away behind the golem. They were stuck on board, for how long he really couldn't say. Suddenly, several trumpets started blowing on the top deck, drawing the attention of everyone, including him.

A woman with dark blue hair appeared at the railing on the top deck, "Welcome, students of Yokai academy..."

He didn't hear anything that was said after that. That woman was Ageha Kurono!!! Kurumu's mother!!!

He did hear Kurumu gasp, "Mother?!"

He looked back towards the top deck; Ageha had just vaulted over the railing and landed in front of the student body. The boys in front were drooling.

Ageha shouted over the crowd, "Now, where is Onyx?"

He glanced back at the golem, who was trying to vanish into the crowd of taller boys at the back.

Ryu spoke, directly to Onyx, "Onyx, someone's looking for you."

The crowd immediately parted around Onyx, leaving the golem conspicuously out in the open.

Onyx facepalmed, "Ryu... you've just damned me..."

Ageha strutted across the deck, right up to Onyx, "Well? What do you think of the suit?"

Onyx's face twisted with confusion, "Ah... that's not a suit. That's your lingerie."

He suddenly suffered a massive nose bleed.

Ageha smiled and winked at Onyx suggestively, "And that's why I like you. You can tell the difference."

Onyx *sweat drop*, "Great... lucky me."

Kurumu let go of his hand and raced over to Ageha, "Mother! What are you doing with that evil brute?!?"

Ageha turned around to face Kurumu, "Oh, Kurumu, there you are. Where is Tsukune?"

He sank into the crowd at that comment.

Kurumu yelled, "You didn't answer my question! Why are you throwing yourself on that evil golem???"

Ageha crossed her arms and looked down at Kurumu, "First, you are my daughter and have no say in what I do or do not do. Second, Onyx is not evil. He happens to be a very kind and honest person. And third, why do you care?"

Kurumu shouted back, "Because he makes me look like an idiot in front of Tsukune!"

Onyx spoke, "That's not true. I only say what's on my mind, and what is on my mind is usually not flattering to you."

Ageha looked suddenly curious, "What kinds of things have you said?"

Onyx's face was devoid of emotion, "I observed once that she was not wearing a bra. She took offence to that."

Ageha laughed, "That's it? I never wear one."

Onyx's face remained blank, "… You're wearing one now…"

Ageha turned to Onyx and spoke seductively, "I can take it off if you like."

Onyx almost sounded like Mizore, "… Nope, leave it on."

He took a hold of Moka's hand, "Let's go."

Moka nodded at him and they both slipped out of the crowd.

Luna watched both of the succubae berate Onyx. She was furious. How dare they try and encroach upon him! She would have run up to each of them and knocked their heads together, but the crowd was a bit too thick to push through. Both of those sluttish succubae in the middle drew almost every boy on the deck. She sulked her way towards the back of the yacht. Maybe she could be alone somewhat back here and… a smell caught her attention. No one had told her that they had an herbal pool on the ship! She ran and made a blind dive towards the smell, felt the water close over her…

She came up on the other side and spoke out loud, "Oh that feels so good!"

She suddenly became aware that something was touching her breasts. She glanced down… the pink haired vampire was off to one side, which meant…

She backed away two steps; Tsukune was cringing back against the side of the pool, hands raised protectively in front of his face.

She resisted the urge to slap Tsukune, barely, "Ok… I will… admit… that was my fault. Just don't go making a habit out of it."

Tsukune waved his hands in front of him, "I wouldn't dream of it."

She backed away and sat down, "I know... Onyx told me all about your "problem"."

Tsukune turned beet red, "Ah... just... how much did he tell you?"

She frowned and leaned her head back, "Enough. Especially about that devil woman."

Tsukune looked confused, "What does this have to do with Ririko-sensei?"

She shot Tsukune a glare, "Not that devil woman, you idiot. The one yelling at her mother right now."

Tsukune looked like he suddenly had a thought, "So... are you calling Kurumu-san that because Onyx seems to be paying more attention to her than to you?"

She felt her face flush with embarrassment, "Ah... well..."

Moka spoke up adding to the embarrassment, "Luna-san, you like Onyx-san? That's so nice!"

She was quiet for a moment, "… You won't… tell him. Right?"

Tsukune replied, "Of course not. That's for you to do."

She responded with one word, "Thanks…"

It was silent for a few moments, unless you counted the commotion at the other end of the ship.

Moka hesitantly asked, "Luna-san, where are you from? I've never met a centaur before and…"

Her mood improved dramatically, she loved to talk about herself, "Oh, you want to know? I live on Mount Fuji. My father is the leader of the entire tribe in the area." She smiled at the thought, "Guess what that makes me!"

Tsukune and Moka both gave her a blank look.

She was appalled, "Really?" She put on an air of importance, "That makes me royalty!"

Tsukune took the information indifferently, "Then… how do you know Onyx?"

She unknowingly started speaking as if dreaming, "The first… and last, time that my father came to visit the school, he… started calling me a slut. I tried to tell him that it was the school uniform and we were required to wear it but… he didn't listen. My father was SO angry. That was when Onyx showed up, coming from his dorm. He said, "Is there a problem?" My father yelled at him to mind his business, and my father is a huge man. He rips trees out of the ground back home for fun when he gets angry. My father rushes Onyx and punches him in the face. You should know by now that it only hurt my father's hand. Onyx took exception to that and punched my father on the chin. Daddy was out cold in one hit." She crossed the pool and started to whisper, "Now, you REALLY can't tell Onyx this. But, in my tribe, if a man wants a woman to be his bride, he has to defeat the woman's father in single combat. Then of course the woman has to accept. So really, Onyx and I are engaged, he just doesn't know it yet."

Tsukune's face deadpanned, "… When are you going to tell him that?"

She let out a dreamy sigh, "I'll tell him when I get the chance."

Tsukune and Moka were giving her a disbelieving stare.

She reacted, "What?!?"

Onyx continued to suffer in silence as Kurumu and Ageha argued over whether or not Ageha should be paying any attention to him whatsoever. Frankly he would have been exceedingly pleased if Kurumu were able to convince Ageha to get away from him… but succubae seemed to be almost as stubborn as he was.

Ageha turned and asked him, "Onyx, do you mind me being around?"

He replied bluntly, "Yes. I mind very much."

Ageha turned back to Kurumu, "You see how hard to get he is being? But you know me, once I set my sights on a man I never let him go!"

He saw the ship's captain walking down from the top deck, realizing that this was his best shot at getting away from this insane woman, "Ageha-san, I think the captain needs to speak with you."

The instant that Ageha looked away he spun on the ball of his foot and charged through the crowd, knocking them out of the way like bowling pins.

He heard Kurumu yell after him, "Get back here you giant tin can, we're not done with you!"

He ignored the younger succubus and rounded the corner at the back end of the ship. Hopefully now he was far enough away that he could hasten away if he saw either of them coming. How many times was he going to have to say NO to Ageha to get through her thick skull???

He let out an exasperated sigh and gazed around the deck passively, "I wonder how Tsukune is doing with Moka…" A little boy sulking in a corner caught his attention, "Hey, you. What are you doing here?"

The little boy had dark skin, wore black shorts, and had a turban with a feather in it on his head.

The boy replied, "I'm here with the school."

He didn't quite believe the kid, "Right… then what are you? Prove that you belong at Yokai Academy."

The little boy whipped out a wand made of bone and shot a lump of black energy at him. It splashed over his chest without doing anything.

The little boy was suddenly furious, "That should have gone clean through you!!!"

He found himself chuckling, "Yeah... well, if I weren't made of steel than it might have. I'm guessing some kind of dark wizard. Close?"

The boy glared at him, "No, I am a mighty necromancer!"

One of his eyebrows shot up, "Really? As in controlling the dead? Wow, I have got to show you to the others."

He reached out and grabbed the boy around the torso, the boy started to shout, "Let me go! I command you!"

He replied, "Sorry, I don't take orders anymore."

He started to walk towards where Tsukune and Moka were lounging in the sun. A peaceful situation for once. Especially considering that Yukari was only about two feet away.

Tsukune heard a thumping noise, opened his eyes, and saw Onyx walking over to them... with a young boy clutched in one giant hand.

Once Onyx got within earshot the golem spoke, "Ok, you guys have to meet this guy. He's hilarious."

Onyx dropped the boy to the deck.

Moka got a look at the boy, "Aww! He's adorable!"

The little boy started to yell, "I am not adorable! I am a mighty... umph!"

Onyx had put a hand over the boy's mouth, "Ok, enough of your ego. Tell them who you are."

The boy spoke two words, "Eknamit Badalandabad."

There was a moment of silence, before Yukari spoke, "That's too hard to say! I'm going to call you Eke-san!"

Eknamit looked appalled, "NO!!! My name is Eknamit!"

Onyx nodded thoughtfully, "I think I'm going with Yukari on this one. Eknamit Badalandabad is too much of a mouthful. Eke-san it is."

Eknamit fell to his knees and shouted at the sky, "WHY???"

Yukari saw the wand stuck in the back of Eknamit's shorts, "Oh! Are you a wizard?!?"

Eknamit suddenly stood and proclaimed, "No, I, Eknamit Badalandabad am a mighty necromancer!!!"

He asked, "What's a necromancer?"

Onyx let out a sigh, "A wizard that summons and controls the dead."

Eknamit stuck his bone wand in the air, "Yes! And now I will demonstrate my awesome power!!!"

A bolt of purple energy shot out from the end of the boy's wand. It twined down over the side of the ship and into the ocean. Slowly, bit by bit, a full skeleton formed on the deck in front of Eknamit.

The skeleton stood still and Eknamit commanded, "Now, my bony minion, I order you to… dance!"

The skeleton promptly fell into disparate pieces. There was a moment where nothing moved or spoke… then Onyx started to chuckle. The laugh was infectious and spread from Onyx, to Yukari, and to him. Even Moka was struggling to not laugh.

Eknamit glared at all of them, "It's not funny!" He rushed over to the pile of bones and picked up the skull, "YOU STUPID SKELETON!!!" The little necromancer threw the skull up towards the front of the boat.

Kurumu rounded the corner from the front of the ship; saw Onyx, "There you are! I have a LOT to say to you…" The face of the skull landed, and nestled itself firmly, right between Kurumu's breasts. Directly on the thin cord that kept the two halves together.

Kurumu glanced down at the skull… and freaked out, "EWWWW!!! TSUKUNE!!! Get it off, get it off…!!!"

He gingerly grabbed a hold of the skull, taking extreme measures to not actually touch Kurumu's breasts; he pulled, "… It's stuck."

Onyx let out an exasperated sigh, "It's not stuck, you're just not pulling hard enough."

Onyx didn't hesitate, just stuck out his hand, grabbed the skull, and yanked. The skull came away with a pronounced tearing sound.

Onyx looked at the skull in his hand for a moment, and at the fabric that was firmly stuck between the teeth of the skeleton, "…… Whoops…"

He suddenly suffered a massive nose bleed as he was turning away. Onyx reached out and grabbed Eknamit's turban.

Eknamit protested, "NO! I need that!"

Onyx replied while extending his arm behind him, "Right, she's naked. What reason could you possibly have that trumps that?"

There was another tearing noise and the sound of something being wrapped.

Kurumu sounded utterly furious, "Ok… you can look now."

He turned around, "Ah… Kurumu-chan…"

Kurumu had tied the wrap in the front, it barely covered anything.

Onyx commented, "Leave it to the succubus to do the bare minimum." This comment was followed by a bought of chuckling from both Yukari and Onyx.

Kurumu turned red, "You... You... AHHHH!!!"

Kurumu ran at Onyx and hit him in the chest with the closest thing at hand, which happened to be him. His world went black.

Kurumu slowly realized what she had just done. She had used Tsukune as a battering ram on Onyx. And not only had failed to do any damage, but had knocked Tsukune out cold. He was going to hate her when he woke up.

Onyx wagged a finger at her, "You really need to learn to control your temper. It's getting people hurt."

She yelled back, "If you didn't keep making those stupid comments I wouldn't be getting angry!"

A wicked grin crossed Onyx's face, "What? Is the little succubus admitting that I can manipulate her emotions at will?"

She flushed again, from anger or embarrassment she couldn't tell, "Of course not!"

Onyx smirked, "Either way, I suggest that you go find something else to wear so we can give Eke-san back his turban. Where is he anyway?"

They all glanced around for the little Indian boy.

Yukari shouted, "Eke-san is behind Onyx-san!"

Onyx turned around and shoved the boy into the middle of the group, "Well, we are going to... why are you wearing a bucket on your head?"

Eknamit pointed up at Onyx and shouted, "None of your business!"

The golem blinked once, twice... grabbed the bucket, and started to lift.

Eknamit also grabbed the bucket, but only to keep it covering his head, "NO, put me down!"

Onyx smirked, "I can keep this up for eternity. How long can you?"

Eknamit glared at the golem... and let go.

Yukari stared in disbelief, "... He's bald..."

It was true, Eknamit was completely bald, and he couldn't be older than Yukari. There was a clacking sound behind her.

She turned around slowly, "AHHH!"

The skeleton had gotten back up and was moving its mouth like it was laughing, the clacking even sounded like laughter.

Eknamit was two feet away and pointed his wand at the skeleton, "Now, to banish you back to... HEY!!!"

The skeleton had snatched Eknamit's wand and was now waving it in front of the little necromancer.

Eknamit jumped for the wand and missed, "I am your master, you must obey me!"

The skeleton punched Eknamit in the face and ran by her, to scrawl on the wall, 'call me Bone Daddy!'

Eknamit took off after Bone Daddy, "Give me back my wand!!!"

Other side of the boat:

Mizore stared out over the water, Ryu standing next to her. Neither of them had said anything for the past three hours, but neither of them had had to. A commotion to her left caught her attention. Someone was barging through the crowd and knocking people either off the boat or farther in towards the deck.

Someone in the crowd shouted, "Give me back my wand!!!"

A skeleton burst through the crowd and bulled her aside; Ryu was hurled over the side of the ship. She stood and looked over the railing after Ryu… the sea all around the ship had been flash frozen. So everyone that was in the ocean willingly was now frozen in a miniature ice sheet.

She yelled down to Ryu, "Ice."

Ryu got up and looked around before sliding across the ice to a ladder and climbing back up. At half way up the ladder Ryu snapped his fingers and the ice sheet vanished as soon as it had appeared.

Later that night:

Kurumu snuck her way into the boy's section of the cabins. Normally, she would have been doing this to find Tsukune and crawl into bed with him. Now though, she had a different purpose in mind. She peered inside the first door on her left… There he was. She silently opened the door and slipped into Onyx's room. The cots on the wall wouldn't fit the golem, so a canvas had been rigged over a wide steel platform. Even that didn't stop Onyx's arms from dangling over the side even when the golem was lying flat on his back. She grabbed the end of the "bed" and started to pull… Why did this guy have to be so heavy? It was lucky for her that the steel frame slid across the wooden floor without making too much noise; else she would probably have woken the entire ship just getting the golem out of his room.

She dragged the bed out onto the deck, and muttered to herself, "This had better work… else he's going to drown me if he gets back."

She attempted to shove the bed off of the boat, but misjudged the angle and hit the frame off of the railing, which sent a large vibration through the entire thing. She winced at the noise, sure the golem was about to wake… Onyx didn't, but someone else did. The sheets on the frame were flung aside and a blond head of hair caught the moonlight.

Luna rolled over and saw her, "What are you doing!?!"

She stared at Luna; the centaur was clad in only a short nightdress, "… Never mind what I'm doing… what are YOU doing?"

Luna crossed her arms and pouted, "For your information, I love him, and you should just stay away from him."

She was appalled by what Luna was implying, "I do not love that thing! That's why I'm pushing his bed off into the ocean!"

Luna glanced around and glared at her, "You wouldn't dare…"

She gave the bed frame one last shove, "I dare."

Luna was just nimble enough to land on the deck before Onyx's considerable weight dropped his bed into the ocean and sank it like a rock.

Luna shot her an angry glare, "I'll make sure to tell him that it was you when he gets back to the school."

Bottom of the Marianas Trench seven miles below the surface:

Onyx opened his eyes and suddenly became aware that it was a lot darker than it should be in a ship cabin. A small glow caught his attention, mostly because it was moving. The ugliest fish he had ever seen swam up to him in the pitch black water. The light was coming from a glowing ball set on a line.

He muttered to himself, "Angler fish… great, on the bottom of the ocean again. Thanks Kurumu."

Something moved behind him. He grabbed the angler fish and used its light to look behind him.

A voice echoed through the water and his head, "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged, "Don't ask me, I got pushed off of a boat."

An enormous serpentine head came into view, complete with enough light to see by, "… Hmm… you look like a human."

He shifted to his golem form, "Well, I'm not. I'm a golem. And… I'm guessing that you must be the Leviathan."

The Leviathan slowly nodded, "That is what the humans have called me, yes."

He shot a glance upwards, "Well… I really don't want to intrude, so… could I prevail upon you to give me a boost? You could even just smack me upwards if you don't want to get near the surface."

The Leviathan nodded, "That seems reasonable."

The head of the Leviathan vanished into the black for a moment. Then the tail shot out of the darkness and smote him upwards. He was shot up as fast as a cannonball gets shot out of a cannon... faster than that even, considering that he was moving through water instead of air.

He neared the surface within moments of seeing light, with no signs of slowing down, "Oh no..."

He broke the surface and shot straight through a boat, taking off into the air and not slowing down.

He screamed hysterically, "I HATE FLYING!!!"

He continued onwards, and upwards. To the east, hopefully he would land soon so he could keep his feet on solid ground. Man was not meant to fly, and golems doubly so.

Two weeks later:

Kurumu had been shooting nervous glances over her shoulder for the last week, but after the second week had passed she started to relax. Thinking that she had finally gotten rid of the blasted…

Something dripped on her shoulder, "Well, well, well… what have we here? A succubus that seems hell bent on getting rid of me."

She turned around slowly… Onyx was standing behind her, covered in clumps of sea weed, "Ah… I… I didn't do anything!"

Onyx scowled at her, "Right… like I'm going to believe you over my own intuition AND Luna."

She turned around and tried to fly away, "Leave me alone!!!"

Onyx grabbed her tail, "There is no escape."

The golem then bodily hurled her into a fountain, shook himself, causing all of the sea weed to fall onto the ground, scooped it all up in one hand, and dropped it directly onto her head.

Onyx tapped his chin thoughtfully, "Hmm… You know, the mermaid look just does not work for you." The golem laughed hysterically as he walked away.

Onyx smiled to himself. Kurumu had been thoroughly put in her place. He highly doubted that she would try and pull something like the desert, or the ocean, ever again.

Tsukune was standing over by the main gate with the rest of the group, now including Eknamit, who was currently engaged in some kind of argument with Yukari.

Tsukune saw him and waved, "Onyx! Where have you been?"

He walked over to them, "Oh, you know... traipsing all over the world just to get back to school after Kurumu shoves me into some deep, dark hole in an attempt to get rid of me." He glanced around at the other faces, "What have I missed?"

Yukari answered, "Eke-san's skeleton attacked me, and he made it do it!"

He smirked, "I doubt that slightly, if for the sole reason that Eke-san can't seem to control "Bone Daddy" in the least."

Eknamit silently glared at him.

He glanced up at Ryu and Mizore, "And you two?"

Ryu smiled, "Well, that's..."

A shrill shriek interrupted the dragon, "RYU!!!"

Ryu's already pale skin blanched, and the usual feeling of cold vanished.

Ryu's voice rose by eight octaves, "Mother!"

A dark haired, severe looking woman was stalking down the path from the human world towards them. From Ryu's vivid descriptions, and the squeak that had just came from Ryu's throat, that this was indeed Ryu's mother, Mesi Shinobi.

Mesi's shriek pierced the air again, "Ryu, get over here."

The woman dragged Ryu off a short distance by the ear, "When I got the letter I requested from your teacher I didn't believe it at first. That you would actually have the gall to disobey me. Lest you have forgotten, we ice dragons are a rare breed nowadays. You are obligated to bond with another of our kind and yet here you are, gallivanting around with this... slushy!"

Mizore spoke one line, "... I'm not a slushy."

Mesi continued to rant, "And I'm not even going to start on your "friendship" with that golem over there. You know that the only reason that humans were able to kill your father was because they had several golems taking the blows that would have ripped them apart. How can you even bear to be within a dozen feet of that trash can?"

He started to grind his teeth in an effort to suppress his anger, which created a low shrieking sound, "We CAN hear you!"

Mesi turned to the majority of them briefly, "Shut up, bucket head." and returned to berating Ryu.

After about another five minuets of venting at a reduced volume, Mesi dragged Ryu over in front of the rest of them, again by the ear, "Now, say it!"

Ryu cringed away from his mother, and spoke to the ground, "Shirayuki-san... I..."

Mesi yelled again, "Spit it out!"

Ryu spoke so quickly it all sounded like one word, "We can't be together."

Ok, that was IT!

He started to speak, anger inundating every syllable, "Ok, enough. I am not just going to stand here and let some scaly, old, HAG waltz in here and bully my best friend into breaking up with someone he likes. If you want to mess with them, you have to go through me!!!"

Mesi swatted Ryu aside, knocking her son out, "That can easily be arranged. I didn't like you anyway."

A huge spire of ice erupted from the ground, an identical transformation technique to that of Ryu. He followed suit and transformed into his golem form, and charged.

Yukari watched Onyx rush the giant ice dragon, even bigger than Ryu. Tsukune fell backwards to avoid a falling chunk of ice, catching the Rosario on the way down by accident.

Next to her, Eknamit rolled up his sleeves, "Ok... here we go."

She shot Eknamit a look, "You can't do magic without a wand, can you?"

Eknamit cracked his fingers, "Of course I can. The wand is just a status symbol. But when I get my hands on the skeleton that took it..." A wave of purple energy flowed out from Eknamit's fingers and coursed over the ground.

Bony arms, with a motley array of weaponry in hand, started to erupt from the ground.

Her mouth dropped, "That's so cool!"

She could have sworn that Eknamit's head swelled, "Now, my skeletal minions, attack the dragon!!!"

The skeletons, which included, scarily, some undead birds, glanced at the big ice dragon and back at each other... and started to run AWAY from the dragon, clacking madly.

She looked over at Eknamit, "... I take back what I said, you aren't cool."

Eknamit deflated like a popped balloon. A loud clacking caught her attention. A much larger flock of undead birds flew back towards the dragon.

Eknamit pumped his fist in the air, "I knew it! They were just getting reinforcements!"

She looked closer, and saw a skeleton with a black bandana wrapped around its head, the undead were following Bone Daddy instead. She looked at Eknamit, who looked so excited that things looked to be going as planned. She decided to not let him know.

One of the bony birds landed on Onyx's shoulder ridge, the golem paused and looked at it, "Wha...?"

The entire flock of some hundred undead birds landed on Onyx at once and picked him up.

The golem started to go up into the sky, "NO, put me down you undead feathered freaks!!! NOOOOOO!!!" Onyx vanished into the sky.

Eknamit's dark skin became as pale as a sheet, and the little necromancer fainted. Maybe she should have told him...

The big ice dragon slid forward on its belly and caught Vampire Moka, her, and Mizore in its claws, "Finally! I have all of you right where I want you."

The dragon opened its mouth to freeze all of them... and a heavy, rusty hammer smashed into the side of the dragon's face. Tsukune had picked up one of the discarded weapons from Eknamit's undead troops and had hit the dragon with it.

Mesi used her tail to rub the spot where Tsukune hit, "I don't know why you even bothered..."

The dragon lunged forward and tried to eat Tsukune, but its mouth got stuck on the hammer.

Mesi's eyes narrowed, "Seriously?" Voice not affected by the weapon stuck between her teeth.

A low sound started to fill the air. Mesi swung her head back and forth to search for the noise, but did not find it. A thought seemed to come over the ice dragon's mind, Mesi looked up... Onyx was falling out of the sky, screaming like a banshee, glowing cherry red. Onyx landed square on the dragon's forehead. Mesi's eyes crossed... and the dragon crashed to the ground.

Over where Mesi had hit him, Ryu slowly stood, he looked over; saw his mother collapsed on the ground with a huge crack in her head, dropped to his knees, "Oh my god... I'm an orphan..."

Onyx slowly stood from where he had rolled, "No... the hag is still alive."

As if to illustrate Onyx's words, Mesi started coughing.

Onyx spoke slowly while brushing himself off, "Where's Eke-san? I have to beat him into a paste for lifting me into the stratosphere."

Ryu ignored everything else and ran to pry Mizore out of his mother's numb grasp.

Ryu stood Mizore up in front of him, "... I'm sorry. For my mother..."

Mizore drew back one hand and slapped Ryu across the face, "That's for saying it couldn't work."

Ryu nodded glumly, "I deserved that."

Mizore grabbed Ryu by the head and dragged his face down to her level, "And this... is for ignoring it." She kissed Ryu, right on the lips.

She started to stare, "Hey! When did Mizore-san start to like Ryu-san?"

Onyx pet her on the head, "Since Egypt, if you didn't notice. Now, help me find Eknamit."

She started to follow the golem, "You aren't really going to hurt Eke-san, are you?"

Onyx shook his head, "No, I'm probably just going to throw him up REALLY high and catch him when he comes down, let the kid know what it's like."

She had a thought, "... Where's Tsukune?"

Onyx's head swiveled around for a moment, "... I have absolutely no idea. But I could guess, and you don't want to interrupt."

Tsukune covered his eyes as he was dragged through the trees by vampire Moka. He had been grabbed immediately upon the defeat of Ryu's mother. Where vampire Moka was taking him he had no idea.

There was a break in the trees and he was suddenly let go, "What... where..." They were on the cliff by the tunnel to the human world, "Why are we here?"

Vampire Moka flicked a stray lock of her hair back over her shoulder, "You wanted to know what it was like inside the Rosario, right? I would rather that as few people know as possible. So no telling anyone, understand?"

He nodded, "Of course."

Vampire Moka seemed to be deep in though, "… have you ever had one of those dreams where you seem to be suspended in infinite nothingness? Where you are aware of most everything around you but are unable to change it in any way… that's what it's like. And every second seems like an eternity."

His mouth fell open, "That's… that's terrible."

An arrogant huff escaped vampire Moka, "I'm sure, you must be horrified that my other half is going through it right now."

He shook his head, "Of course I am, but you suffer through it more than… she ever has to."

Vampire Moka shook her head and closed her eyes, "Your concern is touching… and typical to you."

Vampire Moka crooked a finger to him, "Come here."

He did as bidden. Vampire Moka grabbed his arm and twisted it around so she was standing behind him. He had to struggle to not yelp.

Vampire Moka spoke in his ear, "Relax, Tsukune. I trust you, you need to learn to do the same for me, because I'm not going anywhere."

He spoke, "I know."

Vampire Moka let go of him and waited until he was facing her before speaking, "Now, I expect some sign of commitment before too long. No more being so sensitive to their feelings."

Vampire Moka didn't need to say who "they" were.

He was relatively unnerved, "What… do you want me to do?"

Vampire Moka smiled at him, even if it was a rather arrogant one, "Just take a page from the book of your golem friend. He's blunt when he doesn't like someone."

He stuttered, "I… I'll try."

Vampire Moka nodded in approval, "Good, now, one more thing before I go back in." Vampire Moka walked right up to him, "Don't worry, I'll be gentle."

Vampire Moka grabbed his shoulder, spun him around, and bit his neck.

KAPUCHU.


	4. Chapter 4

Tsukune was dreaming. He knew it, but then again, dreams seem so real almost all of the time that the point was moot. He was in the dark, literally, and could see no more than a foot in front of his face. A light in the distance caught his attention.

He spoke to himself, and his voice had an odd, echoing quality, "What is that?"

He didn't feel himself moving, but began to drift through the black towards the light. As he drew closer, the light split into two separate points. As he drew still closer… he made out that the points were two people, more specifically, Moka and vampire Moka. They both appeared asleep, and he imagined that it must have been exactly like this for either of them when sealed, or loose respectively.

A voice rang out in the dark, a voice that sounded disturbingly like vampire Moka, "Choose."

Images floated past him, of Kurumu and Yukari, and then of Moka. He watched the flurry of images, and felt a presence behind him. He turned, vampire Moka was standing right behind him, red eyes burning…

He awoke with a piercing scream, "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

A cool, level voice answered, "Wow… either that was the worst nightmare that anyone has ever had, or it was something not much better involving Ririko-sensei."

He paused for a moment, his hysteria fading slightly, "Ah… what about Ririko-sensei?"

Onyx smirked and shook his head, "The tail. I've seen the lash marks on the backs of some of my classmates. Makes me REALLY happy that I'm made of steel."

He shivered at the thought of what Ririko-sensei had done to him his freshman year, and was still doing to other students, "Right… why are you in my room?"

Onyx stood from where he had been leaning on the wall, "Right to the point huh? That's a bit out of the ordinary for you. But then again, so is being dragged off into the night by your vampire girlfriend." Onyx's head tilted to the side, "… And I'm quite sure that the usual Moka doesn't leave a noticeable mark when she bites you."

He quickly felt the side of his neck, where vampire Moka had bitten him last night after dropping her ultimatum… he felt two evenly spaced puncture marks on his neck.

Onyx remarked, "Seems like she got a little carried away… makes sense with you waking up at noon, and even then only from a nightmare."

He momentarily panicked, "NOON? I'm late!"

Onyx held up a hand, "Relax, it's Saturday."

He settled back onto his bed, "Oh… well then, could you answer my question?"

Onyx nodded, "I could, and I will. I wanted to know what exactly vampire Moka dragged you off to talk about."

He thought for a moment, about how he had promised not to tell anyone about what vampire Moka had trusted him with, decided to not talk about that, and moved on to the ultimatum, "Moka wants me to… give her a sign of commitment. And she said that she wanted it to be soon."

Onyx gave what amounted to a snort of approval, "Dropping the hammer at last is she? Well, you have to respect a woman that tells her man exactly what she wants."

He protested, "But… she didn't. I have no idea what she meant by "commitment"."

Onyx seemed to pause to think, "Well… I can think of a few off the top of my head… becoming engaged… which is probably a bit too sudden for both of you…

He reacted, "Of course it is!"

The golem chuckled, "Of course… then there is… well, you probably wouldn't go for that one, and I doubt that the Moka you prefer would have the drive to push you to do it either…"

His curiosity sparked, he asked, "What are you talking about?"

Onyx started to laugh, "Do you want me to be blunt like I usually am or do you want me to sugarcoat the term?"

He hesitated, "… blunt."

Onyx laughed harder, "Sex."

His face deadpanned for a moment, "… You can't be serious… THAT?!?!?"

Onyx stopped laughing and gave him a no-nonsense stare, "You wanted me to be blunt."

He capitulated, "… Right…"

Onyx continued, "Then of course there is the middle road, which seems to me the option most plausible for "he of no back bone" to pull off."

He ignored the back handed insult, "What might that be?"

The golem smiled at him, "Simple, kiss Moka, or vampire Moka, in front of Kurumu and Yukari, right on the lips."

He found the idea extraordinarily attractive, except for one part, "Why in front of the others?"

Onyx laughed, "Worried about breaking hearts again are we? Well, either way, you shouldn't have to worry about Yukari much longer. I have her match all lined up."

His spirit rose, "Really? Who?"

Onyx smirked, "Eknamit. I was worried for a while that I might have to find some kind of pedophile to get rid of her but then little necro boy came along… Oh come on, I would never have actually set Yukari up with a pedophile."

In the middle of Onyx's short speech he had involuntarily gagged, "I would hope so."

A thought occurred to him, "… Onyx… you were gone for a lot longer than you were last time… what happened?"

Onyx's eyes took on a distant look, "Well… I… I am quite sure that I figured out who I was before I became what I am now. I literally crashed through the roof of the chamber where I was found by that miserable cretin of a gremlin that I once called "master"."

He egged the golem on, "And? Who were you?"

Onyx shook his head, "Believe me or not… I used to be a knight, Sir Fredrick Vivor."

He didn't know how exactly to react, so reacted with joy, "That's great, isn't it?"

Onyx smirked, "That depends on who you talk to. Knight… great. The name that goes with the title… not so much."

He didn't get it, "I don't understand."

Onyx replied, "Usually, you would address a knight by their title, followed by the family name. That makes me Sir Vivor."

He still couldn't get why, "That sounds fine."

Onyx *facepalm*, "Say my title and family name as if they were one word."

He said it to himself a few times, "Sir Vivor… Sir Vivor……… Oh, survivor?"

Onyx nodded sadly, "Exactly, now if you would kindly keep that tidbit to yourself I would be very happy."

He responded, "Of course."

The golem gave him a good natured slap on the back, which hurt a LOT, "Good man."

Luna was sulking by the small pond, just off the path from the dorms to the school. She hadn't been able to spend any time with Onyx for over two weeks, well… any time with it just him and her. There was one person she could blame for all of it, Kurumu Kurono. If that stupid, evil succubus hadn't pushed Onyx off of the boat… She would have told Onyx about the engagement that he had unknowingly created between him and her, because he would have been alone. It wasn't something she wanted EVERYONE to know… she had mostly told Tsukune and Moka because she had been bragging… and gotten a little carried away. If only she could…

A voice came from behind her, "Luna-san?"

She turned her head to look over her shoulder… it was the sickeningly sweet Moka, "What do you want?"

Moka walked over and knelt on the grass next to her, "You seem sad, and I just thought that… well…"

She turned back to staring at the water, "I appreciate the concern, but you really can't do anything about it."

Moka tilted her head, "Is it about Onyx-san?"

Her eyes narrowed, "… Yes…"

Moka continued asking, "What about him?"

She had to fight the urge to punch Moka in the face, that attitude became SO annoying, "I didn't get the chance to tell him about the engagement, because of that evil succubus."

Moka looked confused, "Kurumu-san? What did she do?"

Her voice grew cold, "She pushed Onyx, and almost me, off of her mother's boat. That's why Onyx was gone for the last few weeks."

Moka looked shocked, "Kurumu-san did that? Why would she…"

She shook her head at how Moka had missed how idiotic Onyx made Kurumu look at every opportunity, either this side of the vampire was completely oblivious, or she saw the world through a pink haze of nauseating happiness, "Kurumu hates Onyx, simple as that."

Moka never argued with anyone, and now was no exception, "Ah… ok."

She started to ramble, "If only I could just get Onyx alone so I could do SOMETHING to prove that I care…"

Moka asked another question, "What do you mean?"

She slowly turned to look at the vampire, "… Really? You and Tsukune have never done anything together that proves your relationship exists?"

Moka looked horrified, "Ah………………"

She asked point blank, "Have you ever kissed him?"

Moka started to speak, "Well, almost, but we…"

She interrupted, "Have you ever come out and said you love him?"

Moka stammered, "No… but I…"

She interrupted again, "Have you ever slept with him?"

Moka looked so shocked by the last question that the vampire couldn't even speak.

She shook her head and spoke in a condescending tone, "My my… you don't even have a relationship with him better than Kurumu, or even that annoying little girl."

Moka stammered, "But… But I…"

She stopped the vampire from speaking with a raised hand, "You want my advice? Well I'm giving it to you anyway. Do one of those things with Tsukune before the month is out… preferably all three at once. Otherwise you have no more claim than that stupid succubus does." She added with a wink, "And the longer you wait, the longer Kurumu has to change Tsukune's mind. Who knows, the succubus might crack under pressure and use her powers on Tsukune."

Moka was left stammering, "Ah… but… I…"

She stood up and started to walk away, "Think about it!"

She thought about it for a moment, what she had just planted in the vampire's head might just be useful. It could keep Kurumu's attention firmly on Tsukune and away from Onyx. Now if only Onyx could not make the succubus angry whenever he opened his mouth… Then Kurumu might forget about Onyx entirely. But then again, that was part of why she liked Onyx, he spoke his mind without fear of the consequences.

Yukari stared up at her wand; some of the school bullies had ambushed her and snatched her wand. Then they had thrown it up on top of the gym where no one could get to it unless they could fly.

She spoke to herself out loud for what must have been the fifth time, "Why me?"

The doors to the gym burst open and a bunch of angry, half-dressed girls ran out chasing Eknamit and Bone Daddy.

Eknamit screamed, "It's not my fault! I can't tell him to do anything!!!"

Bone Daddy dropped one of his arms and tripped Eknamit. The skeleton ran off cackling like a mad man, while the girls gathered up around Eknamit and started to beat the stuffing out of him.

She waited until the other girls had finished and left before she walked over to the seemingly unconcious necromancer, "Eke-san?"

Eknamit shot up, "DON'T CALL ME EKE-SAN!!!"

She had to stifle the urge to laugh, Eknamit was almost cute when he was angry, "I'm calling you Eke-san because your real name is too hard to say."

She spoke with finality so Eknamit slumped in defeat, "ARGH!!!"

This time she couldn't stop herself from giggling, "Why were the girls chasing you?"

Eknamit's flashback:

He sprinted after his mis-behaving creation. The skeleton that called itself "Bone Daddy". Ever since Onyx had hurled him into the atmosphere for what the skeleton did… he had been chasing the bones as much as he could without getting himself into trouble.

He chased Bone Daddy into the gym building, taking excessive care to not anger anyone. With the unpredictability of his necromancer skills he really didn't want to be pressed to defend himself without his wand.

One of the larger boys stopped him, "Where the heck are you going in such a hurry, squirt?"

Then again, being called a squirt was a bit much, "You, shut up and tell me if you have seen a skeleton run through here."

The older boy actually seemed afraid of him, which was a good feeling, "Ah… sure, the skeleton just ran into the girl's locker room."

He ran off, "Back to what you were doing."

The boy yelled after him, "You can't go in there! The girls are about to…"

He ran through the door before he could hear any more. Now… where was Bone Daddy? A sound from one of the aisles drew his attention. He peeked around the corner and saw Bone Daddy trying to stuff himself into one of the top shelves of a locker.

He jumped out and pointed, "Ah HA! Now you have nowhere to run!"

Before he could work any of his magic the door to the outside crashed open on the other side of the locker room… and the voices of a LOT of girls hit his ear drums.

He muttered to himself, "And neither do I!"

He quickly glanced around for a place to hide. The lockers wouldn't do because most of them were locked and they were almost guaranteed to open… he caught sight of a laundry bin… and dove in.

He heard one of the girls talking, "… I know, right? And that one boy who keeps staring at me on the field…"

Something flew into the laundry bin and landed on his face… he didn't dare move to get it off.

Another girl was speaking, "I don't know Kazumi… that isn't a very good idea, you might get caught…"

Something different, but along the same lines, flew in and landed, again, on his face. He was having a VERY hard time staying still.

He heard the sound of a locker opening… followed by the clatter of bones falling onto both flesh and floor, one girl screamed, "EWW! Who put a skeleton in my locker?!?"

There was a chorus of, "Not me."

One other girl spoke, "Maybe it was that little, turban wearing kid. I'm sure I saw him staring at you the other day."

Getting REALLY hard to stay still and quiet, for varying reasons.

Another girl spoke, "Come on Kazumi, let's just pick up the bones, throw them in the furnace, and forget this ever happened."

He had to choke back a gasp of horror. Bone Daddy would never let himself be thrown into a fire, that meant…

His nightmare happened, "HEY! The skeleton moves! Get it!"

Maybe all the girls would just chase Bone Daddy out and he could just leave quietly…

A bony hand grabbed the top of the laundry bin and pulled it over…

Silence descended for a moment… then girls all started screaming in outrage, "Get both of them!!!"

He got up, tore the undergarments off of his face, and sprinted for the door, "NOOOOO!!!"

Present:

Eknamit shuddered from the thought, "… Don't want to talk about it…"

Yukari gave him a curious look but shrugged, "Ok."

He glared at Yukari, "Why are you here anyway? Come here just to laugh at me?"

Yukari gave him a confused look, "Huh? No, my wand is stuck on the roof."

He shot back, "Then just fly up there and get it."

Yukari whined, "I can't fly you idiot!"

He was shocked, "What are you going on about? All witches can fly."

Yukari frowned at him, "I haven't learned how yet."

He stood up and puffed out his chest, "Ha! Necromancers don't need to learn how. I can create a creature to fly for me!"

Yukari poked him in the chest, "Then get my wand down."

He glared at Yukari, "… One condition, I get your wand down, and you start calling me by my full name."

Yukari crossed her arms and pouted, "No."

He crossed his arms, "Do you want your wand or not."

Yukari turned and stuck her finger in his face, "Do you want me to ask Onyx-san to throw you into the air again?"

He almost gagged, "You wouldn't, and you have no reason!"

Yukari smiled at him, even though it was a mischievous one, "You snuck into the girl's locker room."

He protested, "It wasn't my fault!"

Yukari prodded his chest, "Get my wand, and I won't say anything to Onyx-san."

He protested further, "Why would Onyx-san do anything you asked him to?"

Yukari pirouetted, "Because I'm a cute little girl."

His face deadpanned, "… No you're not."

Yukari whirled around and slapped him, "I am because Tsukune said so. Now are you going to get my wand or not?"

He rubbed the side of his face, "… Fine…"

He sent a wave of seeking power into the ground beneath, looking for any bones that he could use… only a dead bird. Well, that would have to do. He drew the bones up to the surface.

Yukari stared at the little undead bird, "… You can't fly on that."

He shouted, "I'm not going to try! I'm just going to have it fly up there and grab the stupid wand!"

He directed the bird to the top of the gym building, where the undead bird perched and hopped a few inches towards Yukari's wand…

He gave the undead bird an order, "Now bring the wand down here."

His puppet cocked its head at him, picked up the wand… and dropped it off of the roof.

Kurumu shot a glance over her shoulder… nothing. Ever since Onyx had returned from his swim in the ocean she had been jumping at shadows. Terrified that the golem would emerge from the bushes and crush her like he had crushed the gremlin that used to command him.

She heard a shout from over by the gym, "CATCH IT!!!" That sounded a lot like Yukari.

Curiosity aroused she walked to the end of the path she was on and glanced out at the courtyard in front of the gym. Yukari and Eknamit were running around like chicken with their heads cut off, trying to catch what looked like Yukari's wand falling from the building's roof. As she watched both Yukari and Eknamit crashed into each other, face first, and fell to the ground, out cold. Just when she thought she would get to watch Yukari's wand shatter on the ground a long arm that she instantly recognized stuck out of the bushes and caught the wand. Onyx's head and torso leaned out of the shadows of the trees and gazed over both Yukari and Eknamit. Seemingly satisfied that they were both unconscious Onyx reached down and stuck the wand in one of Eknamit's open hands. The downed necromancer's fingers reflexively coiled around the wand. Onyx then withdrew his hand and started walking away, doing the "innocent" whistle. Pieces started falling into place, Mizore and Ryu… now Yukari and Eknamit… Onyx had been setting them up! That meant… she was next!

She started muttering to herself, "No… No WAY am I going to let that stupid trash can set me up with anyone. Tsukune is MINE!!!"

Tsukune was slowly walking out of the main school building. He had to check up on some late work that he had handed in and didn't want to get a zero on. His grades were bad enough as it was.

He stared down at the study sheet that Nekonome-sensei had given him, "Ok… ah… rats, I'm going to have to stay up all night to figure this out…"

He heard a voice, "Tsukune?"

He looked up and found his face mere inches from Moka's, "Ah… Moka? Can I help you?"

Moka seemed so nervous that she was shaking, "Ah… Tsukune… would you… I mean ah………"

He asked, "Moka, are you alright?"

Moka nodded vigorously, "Ah, of course... I'm sorry, never mind." And turned on her heel and ran off.

He stood stock still for a moment before he could think about what had just happen, all that came out of his mouth was, "Wait… what just happened?"

Yukari woke up, rubbing her forehead because of a huge ache that was throbbing through her head with every beat of her heart. What exactly had happened? She remembered making fun of Eke-san a little bit… then Eke-san tried to get her wand off of the roof… HER WAND!!! What had happened to it since both she and Eke-san were out cold?!? She glanced around quickly before looking down... Eke-san had her wand!!! And it was intact!

Eknamit groaned, "Ahhh... my head..."

The instant Eknamit was standing she threw her arms around him, "Yay! You caught my wand!"

Eknamit looked confused, "Uh... I did?"

She squeezed harder, "It's right in your hand!" Then, without thinking, she kissed Eknamit on the cheek.

She let go and took a step back, "... Eke-san?"

Eknamit had turned red and had a dazed expression on his face, "Ahhhh..............."

She spoke, "Eke-san, why is your face all red?"

Eknamit snapped out of his daze in a heartbeat, "What? Uh... I wasn't blushing!!!"

She cocked her head at him, "Huh?"

Eknamit stammered, "N... Never mind!" And turned around before sprinting away.

She started to run after Eknamit, "Wait Eke-san, why was your face red?"

Eknamit ran into the trees towards the main building as fast as his legs could carry him. Now it wasn't enough that Yukari had come up with that humiliating nickname, now she had to kiss him in that disgustingly innocent way......... STOP THINKING ABOUT IT!!! Every time it crossed his mind he got a stupid, warm, and disgustingly fuzzy feeling right down in his gut. What was driving his mind absolutely insane... was that he had liked it. Which sent another shudder through his entire body.

Someone grabbed him by his collar, "And where are you going my beamish boy?"

When he could breath again he gagged, "DAD?"

The elder Badalandabad, Gotama Badalandabad, smiled down at him, "Of course my son, you didn't expect that I wouldn't show up at ALL. After missing the actual family day I arranged for one of my own."

He spoke hesitantly, "Ah… you haven't... met any of the female teachers yet... right?"

A wicked gleam appeared in his father's eyes, "Oh HO, is my boy offering to introduce me? I KNEW it! Already a chip off of the old Badalandabad block!"

He stammered, "NO! I wasn't... that's not what I meant!"

Gotama smiled, "I see... then you were going to recommend one?"

He mentally cursed the Buddha for the fact that he had been born to such a sex obsessed father, "I..."

Yukari crashed out of the bushes, "Eke-san..." She saw his father, "Who's that?"

Gotama crouched down, "Oh? Tell me my boy, who is this adorable little lotus blossom?"

Yukari still had to look up at his dad, "... I'm not a flower..."

Gotama slapped him on the back, "Well? Now's your chance, tell the little girl what the metaphor means!"

He grumbled the answer under his breath.

Yukari cocked her head at him, "What was that?"

He took a deep breath, "... It means that you're... cute..."

Yukari just looked at him, "I know."

He was suddenly angry for no reason, "How do you just say "I know"? Girls aren't supposed to act like that when you compliment them!!!"

Yukari gave him a clueless stare.

His father coughed, "My boy, over here for a moment." After dragging him aside, "I'm guessing that you like the girl?"

He overreacted, "No I do NOT. She's a girl, why should I like her?"

Gotama chuckled, "For that exact reason. Unless your tastes lie in other directions..."

He interrupted his father, "DON'T EVEN GO THERE!!!"

His father kept up the unnerving smile, "My advice, do page three hundred and fifty six."

He froze for a moment... and exploded, "DAD!!! I'm only sixteen!!! I'm not doing ANYTHING out of the Kama Sutra!!!"

His father laughed, "And why not? I was younger than you when I started."

His face went completely white, "… I'm going to have nightmares now…" An idea occurred to him, a way that just might get his father away, but it was a gamble, "Dad… what if I told you… that I had been denying things because I was embarrassed?"

His father's mood shifted, "Oh? Well then, is this one of the girls?"

He walked over to Yukari and whispered in her ear, "Just play along and he will leave, please." He turned back to his father, "Yes, one of many."

His father smiled, "Well? What are you waiting for? Show me!"

He went white as his gamble failed, "Ah… what do you want to see?"

Gotama kept smiling, "Oh, just something simple. Don't worry, I'm not a voyeur. Kiss her, or grab her rear… use your imagination."

He turned his head towards Yukari and started to whisper, "What now…" He was cut off as Yukari kissed him on the lips.

His father beamed, "That's my boy! Now if you will excuse me I saw an excellent mark in a brunet bombshell… I think I heard her addressed as Kagome. Keep up the good work, my son!"

His father walked away.

He felt his face burning, "Ah… sorry?"

Yukari slapped him, "Your daddy is a pervert!"

He tried to defend himself, "I know! But that's not my fault!"

Yukari pouted, "Thanks to you, I lost the first lip-kiss that I was saving for Tsukune."

He shot back, "Are you kidding me? You already kissed me over catching your wand!"

Yukari's eyes snapped open, "Huh? What are you talking about?"

He pointed to his cheek, still yelling, "Right there! Are you saying that you didn't even think about it?"

Yukari seemed to think for a moment, "… I guess not…"

He lost it, "Are you KIDDING ME? First you come up with that stupid nickname, then you just kiss me without thinking about it, then I actually started to like it, and… and… ARRGH!!!!!"

Yukari cocked her head at him, "Eke-san… you liked me kissing you?"

Every muscle in his body froze, "…… I said that?"

A long moment of silence passed… before Yukari started to giggle, in that annoying, yet cute, little girl way.

In the trees behind Eknamit and Yukari:

Onyx watched Eknamit's outburst and the ensuing follow up.

He chuckled to himself, "Three down, one to go… although how am I going to find someone with the guts to take HER on?"

Boy's dorm:

Tsukune staggered into the dorm, he had been forced to take extra time after class to get "extra" lessons. Thankfully this time he wasn't under Ririko-sensei's thumb. Nekonome-sensei wasn't much better though, she drifted off into her own world at even intervals and he had to practically shout at the teacher to get her attention.

He leaned against the wall outside of his door for a moment, "Oh... I need sleep..."

He opened his door and heard a short gasp from inside; when his eyes focused he spoke, "... Moka? What are you doing in here?"

Moka stated to stammer, "Ah... well I... I'm sorry I... I'll go..."

On an impulse as Moka tried to slip by him he grabbed her arm, "Moka, what's wrong? You're so nervous I can SEE you shaking."

Moka slowly spoke, "Well... I... I... I love you Tsukune."

His heart flew up into his throat, "I... love you to. But you knew that didn't you?"

Moka's eyes started to water, "I hoped, but Luna-san... made me think, how I had never actually said it."

He let out a sigh of relief, "I'm glad that that was everything… that was it… right?"

Moka shook her head, "No… Luna-san did say… other things… and… um…"

He put his hands on Moka's shoulders, "Moka, I'm not going to make you do anything that you don't want to do. Anything else would just be wrong."

Moka looked up at him and shook her head again, "Oh! It's not that… I'm just… nervous."

A random and disconcerting thought occurred to him, "What… did Luna-san suggest?"

Moka's nervousness seemed to increase by an order of magnitude, which seemed to confirm his thought, "I… uh…"

He suddenly became aware of just how close he and Moka were. He felt his pulse race as he leaned his head forward, expecting at any moment for Moka to bite him and the moment to be ruined… it never happened. His lips met Moka's for the first time… He felt something snap inside of him, and within Moka at the same time………

Kurumu slowly winged her way towards Tsukune's window. Giving herself a very unnecessary pep talk the whole way.

She got within three feet of the window, "Ok… it's simple, I wait for Tsukune and when he comes in…" She reached for the latch on the window but movement inside gave her pause, "What the heck…"

She pressed her face to the glass… no… NO WAY!!! Tsukune was making out with Moka!!!

She threw her head back *camera pans away*, "WHY???"

Another bout of movement caught her eyes... clothing was flying. A red haze descended over her vision, she raised a hand, claws extended, to slash down and break through...

A voice snuffed out her fury, "Enjoying the show?"

She reflexively yarded down on the back of her skirt while shooting a glance down to where Onyx was standing, looking straight ahead, in full golem form.

She flew down and pointed at Onyx accusingly, "You! You were looking up my skirt, weren't you?"

Onyx's metal face betrayed no emotion, "By now do you really think I need to look?"

She changed the subject to save face, "Whatever, why are you out here in the first place?"

The golem laughed, "Really? Have you even seen the amount of damage that I've inadvertently done to this school? I work nighttime security to offset the damages."

Onyx's logic was starting to annoy her, so she threw what she thought to be a sucker punch, "Oh yeah? What about playing matchmaker between all of us girls?"

Onyx shrugged, "What about it? I wasn't trying to keep it a secret, the fact that you just now seemed to notice is more from your perverse obsession with Tsukune than any secretive measures on my part. Mizore, Ruby, Yukari... my input in each of them was rather minimal. All I did was just give each of them a nudge in the right direction. When it came to you though... I must admit that I had no one lined up to take you off of Tsukune's plate. Honestly, who in this school has the audacity to attempt to be in a relationship with you? They'd have to have nerves of steel."

She opened her mouth to reply but a red light that reflected off of Onyx's skin, she turned to Tsukune's window, horror twisting her voice, "Did... did I just see what I thought I saw?"

Onyx's voice rang, "Wow... changing girls in the middle of the love making... that's got to be among the top ten weirdest things I've ever heard of."

She started to mutter, "It doesn't matter... I can still get him to love me..."

A hint of annoyance entered Onyx's voice, "Right... after what you saw and what you know to be happening now, do you really think that you still have a chance? Honestly?"

The golem's logic started to get to her, "But... but I love him. He... he protected me... he has to care..."

Onyx let out a snort of genuine annoyance, "Yeah, sure. Because I saved Moka from Ryu's icy prison I MUST love her. Face it; it's not the same as actually loving someone."

Onyx watched Kurumu drop to her knees, he would have been a bit nicer but... her pig headedness was severely grating on his nerves.

He heard a sniffing sound, "Hey... wait, you aren't going to..."

Kurumu started crying her eyes out.

He was at a loss for what to do, "Ah... ok... you can ah... stop crying… anytime... you know?"

Kurumu let out a melodramatic sob, "Why? Tsukune doesn't love me!"

He thought quickly, he REALLY didn't like hearing girls cry, much less watching as any girl practically cried a river…

He left his golem form and took a verbal gamble, "Ah… you do know that he's still going to be your friend. Or was it all or nothing?"

Kurumu stopped sobbing momentarily to speak, "What?"

He continued his train of thought, "If he didn't love you would you still want Tsukune in your life?"

Kurumu wiped her eyes, "Of course."

He saw a light at the end of the tunnel, "So, like the old adage goes, "If you love something, set it free" does that make some sense?"

Kurumu sniffed again, but was no longer full out crying, "I… I guess…"

He let out a sigh of relief, "Besides, pretty girl like you should have no trouble attracting a nice guy… just might not want to go about it like your mother does."

Kurumu stood up and gave him a serious stare, "You aren't going to try and set me up are you?"

He relaxed, sure that the figurative storm had passed, "Of course not, why would I have to anymore?"

Kurumu glared at him, "Because if you hadn't shown up I might have still had a chance."

He gave a helpless gesture, "So… what? You WANT me to find you a nice guy now?"

Kurumu crossed her arms and glared at him, "I think it's only fair. Everyone else but me seems to be happy."

He smirked, "I think I can do that. But, if you don't mind me saying, there are a few things that you need to work on."

Kurumu got in his face, "Such as?!?"

He didn't back off even an inch, "That would be the major issue. Your temper is shorter than Yukari."

Surprise twisted Kurumu's face for a moment… and then she started to laugh.

He continued to smirk, "Funny, I though all I could do was make you furious with a glib remark or two."

Relatively satisfied that he had solved all of the issues surrounding Tsukune and Moka, he turned on the ball of his foot and started to head back to his room.

Tsukune's eyes slowly opened… what exactly had happened? He remembered finally kissing Moka but… nothing after that. He rolled over… and found a pair of red eyes looking at him from less than six inches away. There was a moment of complete and utter silence…

Vampire Moka spoke, "Good morning, Tsukune."

He let out a scream of pure terror, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

Onyx's and Ryu's room:

A scream is heard, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Onyx chuckled, "What a rude awakening."

Girl's dorm:

Scream, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

Kurumu shook her head sadly, "Poor Tsukune…"

Faculty lounge:

Scream, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Shizuka woke up without her coffee, "MEOW!!!"

Tsukune's room:

Tsukune stammered, "But… What… How…"

Vampire Moka smiled at him, which was still rather creepy, "When I said that I expected a commitment, I would have settled for a kiss. But… I think I like how it turned out far more. I will however admit to being rather shocked when I was woken up right in the middle."

The door crashed open, "Tsukune…!" The crowd of boys froze as vampire Moka glared at all of them.

Vampire Moka spoke, "The door, close it."

The crowd of boys fled in absolute terror, while slamming the door behind them. Vampire Moka stood up, shamelessly allowing the sheet to fall away, and got dressed.

Vampire Moka turned to him just as she was about to leave, "I'm glad that you finally made up your mind." And gave him a seductive wink before leaving.

Onyx waited for Tsukune outside of the dorm, taking note of how happy vampire Moka looked as the girl strutted out of the boy's dorm. Well… happy for her.

The instant Tsukune stumbled out of the dorm he spoke up, "Well, good morning Casanova!"

Tsukune looked at him, looking dazed and confused, "What…? Why are you calling me that?"

He brushed the question aside, "Oh, no reason. Answer me this though, did you sleep well? Because I know that I didn't."

Tsukune still gave him a clueless stare, "… What?"

He started to laugh, "Oh come on, what with you and Moka upstairs and Mizore and Ryu right on the other side of my room… I didn't sleep at all!"

Tsukune gave a start, now more awake, "Wait… WHAT!?!?!?!?!"

He laughed harder, "Seriously? Mizore tried to sleep with you on that ski trip her mother set up. I think she's a good deal more mature than you gave her credit for."

Tsukune was fully awake now, "Ah… right…"

He leaned against a tree, "So, what now Tsukune? Mizore, Ruby, Yukari, and even Kurumu… all of them are out of the way. You've fully committed yourself, body and soul, to Moka. What are you going to do about it now?"

Tsukune hesitated, "Ah… well…"

He interjected, "Please tell me you aren't going to say, "Now we go on as before". I for one know that you can't do that."

Tsukune gave him a curious look, "Then… what do I do?"

He spoke with authority, "You have two options. One, which I know that is not what you want to do, is to break off the relationship. The other, is you take it to the next level… ask her father for her hand."

Tsukune went as white as a sheet, and his voice went up by eight octaves, "What? Ask… HIM???"

He tried to calm Tsukune, "I know the vampire is one of the dark lords or whatever, but you've already earned his grudging respect at the end of the last year, or so I hear. Think about it though, you already fought the guy for Moka, how hard is it to ask the guy to marry her after all of that?"

Tsukune sputtered, "But…"

He held up a hand to silence Tsukune, "I know what you're thinking, "I'm too young to marry". There is such a thing as a betrothal. The actual marriage takes place years sometimes after it has been finalized. You can wait until you're out of school to actually tie the knot."

Tsukune seemed reassured, "That… sounds like it will work… When should I talk to him?"

A smile crossed his face, "How about as soon as possible, before you lose your nerve."

A look of determination spread over Tsukune's face, "Right. Then let's go!"

Tsukune sprinted off towards the tunnel with his fist held skyward.

He shook his head, "I wonder if the guy even remembers how to get there... Still, I have to admire Tsukune's spirit. Moka is certainly a lucky girl." He got up and started walking after Tsukune, "Wait up!"

Tsukune shot a nervous glance over his shoulder, checking to make sure that Onyx was still there. His sense of exuberance had faded. Now he was starting to remember just how powerful Moka's father was… and how much the elder vampire hated humans. How was he going to say it?

Tsukune's imagination:

He spoke, "Akashiya-dono… I… would like to ask you… for Moka's hand."

The dark lord stared at him in silence for a moment… one of the vampire's fingers flicked upwards and he shot straight up through the roof.

Reality:

He shuddered at the thought.

Onyx came up beside him, "Relax Tsukune, you need to at least LOOK like you want to be doing this. The guy is probably watching us right now. So stand up straight, hold your head high…" the golem added in a softer tone, "And grow a spine."

He looked up at Onyx, "Why exactly do we need to ask him? Shouldn't I be talking to Moka?"

Onyx frowned, "You would only be talking to Moka if you were going to marry her on the spot, and that isn't going to happen. So you get her father's permission to become engaged. Plus the fact that the vampire would probably kill you if you married Moka without him being informed."

He shuddered at the idea, again.

A loud voice came from the path ahead, "Hey! What are you doing here?"

He looked up and gagged, "K… Kokoa-san!"

Kokoa sprinted right in front of him and pointed, "You, get away from here!"

He started to speak, "Ah, Kokoa-san…"

Kokoa just seemed to notice him, "Tsukune! You to, leave!"

Onyx let out a sigh, "Ok, I'm guessing you're mad because I batted you over the horizon, right?"

A very large club appeared in Kokoa's hand, "Exactly!"

Onyx reached over to the side of the road and plucked a tree from the ground, a very LARGE tree, "Ok, I'm going to say this once. Out of the way, or I go for a grand slam this time."

Kokoa rushed anyway, "For Onee-sama!!!"

Onyx swung the tree like a baseball bat and caught the red head right in the center of mass. Kokoa flew over the horizon, screaming incoherent obscenities, until she vanished into the distance.

Onyx stuck the tree back into the ground, "I don't know why that little strawberry even bothers..."

He spoke, "Ah... shouldn't we be going?"

Onyx nodded, "Right, lead the way. It is your wedding on the line after all."

Sufficiently nervous, he started towards the castle in the distance.

Onyx gazed up at the large castle that Moka's father called home. While it was a bit large for him, he had to admit that Moka's father had style, and superb taste. If he squinted, he could almost picture the castle before him as the one that he had grown up in, over 700 years ago.

Tsukune spoke, staring up at the massive doors, "How do we get in?"

He kept looking upwards and replied, "Simple, you knock. Moka's father should be omnipotent enough to open the door no matter where he is in the place."

Tsukune raised one hand to timidly knock, but before Tsukune's hand touched the door it swung open, slowly, and with a loud creaking sound.

He commented, "Now all that it needs to complete the effect is some creepy organ music."

Right on cue the organ music started playing, and the door slammed shut behind them both.

He commented, with some amusement, "Creepy host effect… completed."

Another door opened, right across the spacious foyer from them. Tsukune was literally shaking, but to his credit Tsukune was trying his best to do what he had told him to do. The door led them into a long, grand hall. A dark and supposedly intimidating hall, but grand in any case.

Tsukune slowly approached the throne where Moka's father sat, waiting with all the presence of a king. Which, really, you sort of could call the vampire that.

Moka's father spoke first, "You're here earlier than I expected."

Tsukune looked confuses, "Ah... you were expecting us?"

From somewhere on his person, Moka's father produced a Rosario, "The Rosario that my daughter wears, I created it, and I can see through it."

The implication was not lost on Tsukune, "You... you can see... through..." Tsukune looked about ready to faint.

He slowly spoke, "Wow... that's... kind of creepy."

The elder vampire's gaze shifted from Tsukune to him, "I do not recall asking for your opinion, construct." Moka's father paused for a moment, "Now, I know why the boy is here, what I do not know is why you are here, explain yourself."

He nodded respectfully, "I'm here to... try and make sure that you don't kill Tsukune. With added emphasis on TRY."

A smirk twisted the elder vampire's face, "A reasonable concern. I am still considering it."

Silence momentarily descended as Moka's father fixed Tsukune with an icy glare... five minutes passed.

He spoke, trying to sound respectful, "Ah... is that really fair? Just terrifying Tsukune when you already know your answer."

An amused smirk played across the elder vampire's face for a moment, "How perceptive, yet if he is going to be my son in law then he will have to learn to deal with it."

Tsukune's face lit up, "Then... you're saying yes?"

Moka's father nodded slowly, "I'm not about to deny my daughter what she wants. She is able enough to make her own decisions in this matter, and I'm quite sure that she has already made it. I suggest two years from now to be a decent amount of time, and you WILL keep me informed of the proceedings." The vampire held up the Rosario, "Remember, I'm watching you."

Tsukune fumbled through a bow, "Th... Thank you Akashiya-dono."

The vampire glared at Tsukune, "Don't disappoint me." And vanished in a puff of smoke.

He glanced around for a moment before speaking, "Well, the man certainly had a taste for the dramatic, doesn't he?"

Tsukune hesitated for a moment before answering, "Ah... I suppose."

He gestured towards the door, "Come on, we need to get back. There is school tomorrow after all."

Tsukune waited until they had both exited the castle before saying anything, "So... what now?"

He laughed, "Now, you and Moka go on with your school lives. I on the other hand am going to be very busy. But I do have a whole two years to make arrangements and such."

Tsukune looked at him with slight confusion, "But... don't you have school next year?"

He smiled, "True, but I never tire, and I think I have a few old family favors that I can call in for you. And before you ask why, my freedom isn't something that is easily repaid. I'll consider it done when you and Moka are standing on the altar."

Tsukune appeared lost in thought for a moment, then spoke, "…Onyx… I… need a best man… right?"

He slowed as he turned his head towards Tsukune, "That's true. Might be a little hard seeing as you aren't that close with that many other men."

Tsukune shook his head, "I know, but… I was actually thinking… that you could be my best man."

He stopped walking, "You… want me up there on the altar with you and Moka?"

Tsukune nodded, "If you hadn't done what you've done… I never would have gotten this far. I can't think of anyone better."

He smiled at Tsukune, "I'm honored." He let out a short laugh, "Well, now I have even more reason to make this the best wedding that anyone has ever had!"

Back at the school:

Kurumu lounged on the ground, beneath a tree. Her mind was still reeling over Tsukune and Moka, but… if she thought about it, she should have seen it all along. Especially after Tsukune challenged Moka's father to get a new Rosario for Moka.

She let out a sigh, "That trash can had better deliver…"

She heard a voice, "Who are you calling a trash can?"

She looked up and saw Luna standing over her, "Onyx, who else?"

Luna looked royally furious, "What did you mean by Onyx delivering? You better not have taken him from me!"

Her mind finally put the pieces together, "Huh? If you want him you can have him."

Luna's expression shifted from anger to surprise instantly, "What? You… really never liked him?"

She threw her arms up in exasperation, "Of course not! I can't say the same about my mother, but I've never LIKED Onyx. I just cut a deal with him after seeing Tsukune making out with Moka."

A look of understanding crossed Luna's face, "Oh… so that's what the scream was…"

She shuddered, "Don't remind me."

Luna asked, "What kind of deal?"

She shook her head, still not believing it herself, "Onyx is just going to do the same thing he did for the other girls, for me."

Luna let out a sigh of relief, "Ok then… I… guess I owe you an apology."

She scoffed, "Don't bother, just get Onyx out of my life the instant I find a nice guy. I don't need bucket head making me look like an idiot again."

A voice rang from the path, "Kurumu! Have you seen Onyx anywhere? I can't seem to find him."

She gagged as she saw who it was, "MOTHER?!?"

At the same time, she and Luna looked at each other… a nod of understanding passed between them. They both started yelling at her mother.

A voice she recognized well carried over the quarrel, "Am I interrupting anything?"

Onyx was standing behind her mother, apparently not noticing her presence.

Her mother whirled around, "Onyx!"

Onyx's eyes went wide, "Ageh… UMPH!!!" He was cut off as her mother bodily leaped upon him and wrapped her arms around his head.

Her mother shouted, "Onyx, I missed you!"

Onyx's muffled roars of anger were heard before he literally tore her mother off of his face with a loud sucking sound, "Ageha-san, what the heck are you doing here!?!"

Her mother winked at Onyx suggestively, "I missed you, like I just said."

Onyx's face deadpanned, "… and how exactly was I supposed to hear that?"

Her mother looked up at Onyx, "You haven't been writing back."

Onyx replied in monotone, "Really? I can't possibly think of a reason why…"

Onyx's sarcasm was lost on her mother, "Oh, then you just were busy. That's why I decided to visit!"

Onyx *facepalm*, "Look, Ageha-san. In all seriousness, get away from me."

Her mother gave Onyx a surprised look, "Huh?"

Onyx sighed, "Ok, I get it. You aren't going to get it unless I spell it out for you... You know nothing about me, with the two exceptions that I know high fashion and am brutally honest. If you still want to try, at least make an effort to know me first."

Her mother looked somewhat surprised, "Huh?"

Onyx gave an exasperated sigh, "We have actually met three times, and you want to marry me. That's not a relationship. I'm normally a forgiving person, so I'm at least willing to let you have an earnest chance if you want to try for something real. Does that suffice?"

Her mother's face lit up, "Oh! Now I get it. I'll see you soon then." Her mother sprinted away before taking off.

Onyx watched her mother leave, "Why do I get the feeling that she's got the wrong idea..."

She spoke up, "Why are you over here anyway?"

Onyx smiled, "To share the news. Tsukune is engaged to Moka. They are getting married in two years."

She felt like she was punched in the gut, "WHAT!!!"

Onyx shrugged, "They've been "together" for three years now. It seems the next logical step."

She pointed at his face, "Why bother telling me?"

Onyx smirked, "Just in case you decided to relapse into your hopeless unrequited love situation."

The golem turned around and started to walk away. She got Luna's attention and gestured in Onyx's direction with her head. The centaur ran off after Onyx.

She muttered under her breath, "What does she see in that thing..."

Luna ran after Onyx, she was going to tell him, now. No more waiting for the right moment, especially because he had just offered a chance to that insane succubus.

She shouted after him, "Onyx!"

Onyx paused and turned around to look at her, "Luna? Something wrong?"

She started to speak, "Well… you remember the time when you beat my father?"

Onyx chuckled, "How could I forget? That's how we met."

She started to hesitate, "Well… what if I told you… that it meant more than just a beat down?"

Onyx cocked an eyebrow at her, "Ah… I would be surprised. Depending on what it meant."

She took a deep breath, "It… it means that… we're engaged."

Onyx blinked slowly a few times, "… You're serious?"

She sensed rejection, "Yes."

Onyx started to laugh, "Well, that makes a lot of things make sense. I just wish you could have told me before I offered that chance to Ageha-san."

She looked up at Onyx, "You… you mean you aren't angry? I didn't tell you for three years."

Onyx smiled, "I can understand that. It's not an easy topic to just slip into polite conversation. "Oh, by the way, we're engaged, just thought you should know." I can't really see anyone, even me, doing that."

She asked one last time, "Then… you don't mind?"

Onyx continued to smile, "Why would I? You probably know me as well as I know myself by this point. Isn't that what a significant other is supposed to do?"

She ran over and wrapped her arms around his lower torso, "Thank you…"

One of Onyx's arms wrapped around her, "By the way, did I tell you that I'm a knight?"

Two years later, Vatican City:

Onyx stood in the back of the Basilica of St. Peter. Apparently, according to his family records, he had prevented an assassination attempt on Pope Clement the fifth while he was still human. It was relatively easy then, to borrow the Basilica for one marriage ceremony. One of the cardinals was even going to preside.

Tsukune walked up beside him, "So… how did you manage to pull this off again?"

He turned his head to look at Tsukune, now about half a foot taller than two years ago, "Family favors my friend. Besides, I'm your best man; I'm supposed to get you and Moka the best."

Tsukune shook his head, "I'm going to owe you after this one…"

He replied without missing a beat, "No, we're even. And that's final."

Tsukune looked around the interior, "I can't believe it's finally here… I'm getting married."

He asked, "Whose turn is it this week?"

Tsukune had worked out a bit of a system so vampire Moka wouldn't have to stay sealed for extended periods of time. It boiled down to a week with vampire Moka, followed by a week of the pink haired one.

Tsukune replied, "The sweet one." Tsukune had stopped fearing the vampire side of Moka, rather accepting the more severe side as one half of a perfect girl.

He took care to not ruffle Tsukune's tux and patted his friend on the back, "It's time friend. Let's start waiting."

Kurumu watched from her seat as Tsukune waited up at the altar, Onyx off to one side, as Moka's father led the pink haired, sweet version of Moka up to the altar. The elder vampire stood Moka up opposite of Tsukune from the cardinal and took a seat right next to Tsukune's parents.

Tsukune's mother leaned over to Moka's father and whispered, "You must be so proud of your daughter!"

Moka's father glanced over at Tsukune's mother, "Ah... yes."

Tsukune's mother was crying with happiness, "Isn't Moka-san's mother going to be here?"

Moka's father stared straight ahead, "Eventually."

The cardinal pushed his glasses up onto his face, "Now, you will have to excuse me if I am forced to read from the good book from time to time. It has been quite a while since I have presided over one of these ceremonies."

Tsukune nodded to the cardinal and took Moka's hands, "Of course."

The cardinal began to speak, "We are gathered here today, to join in..."

The doors of the Basilica burst open, "ONYX!!!"

She turned around in her seat, "Mother?"

Ageha stalked up the aisle to the altar and walked right up to Onyx, she prodded the golem in the chest, "You! You've been ignoring me for weeks..." Her mother continued to scream right in Onyx's face. About ten seconds later Ageha paused for breath, "Well? What do you have to say?" Onyx's hair was sticking straight out opposite of her mother's mouth.

The boy next to her whispered, "THAT is your mother?"

She sighed, Kathool had been with her for six months, and she had been putting off him actually meeting her mother. Onyx had introduced them… told her what Kathool was (a kraken)… and she liked him. Besides, he was very good with those tentacles… on the other hand, Kathool was a little bit dense, but clever. The very first thing she had done was attempt to charm Kathool, when that hadn't worked her curiosity had driven her to find out why it hadn't. She learned eventually that Kathool could influence people while they slept through their dreams. One thing had led to another after that. Plus, she found Kathool's deep, amber eyes to be so attractive. His black hair also always seemed to be wet, and Kathool was about half as built as Onyx. And the best part, the guy knew practically every corner of the ocean. That was where Kathool had taken her on their first date, diving in the tropics. It was also there that she had seen his transformed shape for the first time. One definite downside to Kathool though, was that he was nearly as witty as Onyx, but then again, she could hurt Kathool. So it all rather balanced out. She wasn't ready to think of Kathool as her destined one… but the odds were good.

She sighed dramatically, "Yes… you see why I didn't want you to meet her?"

Kathool nodded, "Yeah, also, there is the fact that you look disturbingly alike, mostly in body."

Up at the altar, Onyx shook his head once, causing his hair to fall back into disarray, "Look, you called me three times a day, seven days a week, three hundred sixty five days a year. You are a worse stalker than Mizore was for Tsukune his freshman year."

Ageha started yelling again, "Don't compare me to that woman's daughter!!!"

The cardinal started to speak, "Madam, this is a wedding, please take your seat and…"

Her mother whirled on the priest, "I wasn't talking to you padre!!!"

One of Onyx's eyebrows started to twitch, clearly he did not approve of yelling at a priest.

Onyx's voice took on a dangerous tone, "Ageha…"

Her mother either did not hear, or did not care, "And as for me calling all the time, that is what you wanted!"

Luna rushed the altar, "Leave my betrothed alone!"

Her mother whirled around… the sound of the slap and of Luna falling to the floor echoed through the Basilica.

A look of horror crossed her face, "Oh… this is bad."

She could practically see steam coming out of Onyx's ears. The golem slowly turned around, knelt in front of the altar, made the sign of the cross in front of his chest, and muttered something.

Her mother shouted, "What was that?"

Onyx slowly stood up and his fists clenched as he rose, "I said, "forgive me father, for I am ABOUT to sin."

One of Onyx's hands lashed out and grabbed her mother around the ankles. Onyx then started to drag Ageha towards the front doors.

The golems face was the epitome of rage, "Someone get the door, or I'm walking through them."

Kathool raised an arm in the direction of the door, and a deep blue tentacle snaked out, opened the door, and retracted. Onyx continued to drag Ageha, oblivious.

The golem got to the door and grabbed her mother by the scruff of the neck, "Ageha-san, I hope you like swimming."

She heard her mother shout, "There's no water around here!"

A smirk twisted Onyx's face, "There is in the Arctic Circle, and that's where you're headed."

The golem wound up, and slung her mother out the open door of the Basilica. Ageha flew off into the distance, screaming like a banshee.

Eknamit's father stood from the back pew, "What did you have to and do that for? She was hot."

Onyx spoke in monotone while walking back up to the altar, "You want her, then you can go find her."

Eknamit's father stood and exited the Basilica, "Just as well, I don't feel right in here anyway."

The door shut behind the elder necromancer.

Onyx got back up on the altar after checking on Luna, "Cardinal, I apologize for the interruption."

The priest nodded, "Of course. Now... where was I... oh yes. We are gathered here today..."

The sound of the doors opening drew the attention of the entire small crowd.

A woman appeared in the doorway, one with silver hair, red eyes, and fangs, "Sorry I'm late. Security was giving me a hard time."

Was that vampire Moka?!?

Tsukune apparently thought so, "Wha...! But the... Rosario... it's still on and..." Tsukune fainted from shock.

Tsukune slowly opened his eyes... he could see two women, and Onyx staring down at him.

Moka spoke, "Tsukune?"

He looked quickly back and forth between the two female faces, "Ah........."

The Moka with the Rosario around her neck blushed, "Tsukune, this is my mom."

He looked at the other face, "Ah... pleased to meet you."

Moka's mother smirked, "I'm guessing that my daughter still looks a lot like me then?"

He hesitated for a brief moment, "Ah, yes. Very much so."

Moka's mother smiled, "Flattery? Being told I look like a nineteen year old." She seemed to directly address the Rosario, "You did pick a winner."

The Rosario seemed to gleam as if in response.

Onyx helped him up, "About time, almost thought I would have to hold you in place while the texts were read."

He asked, "Is everyone still here?"

Onyx chuckled, "You weren't out THAT long. But, let's see... Yukari and Eknamit, check. Moka's parents, check. Mizore, Ryu, and Tsurara, check. Kurumu and Kathool, check. Gin and Ruby, check. Me and Luna, double check. That's everyone, plus your parents."

In the front row of pews his mother waved to him and mouthed, 'I'm so proud of you!'

He waved at his mother uneasily before climbing back to his feet.

He looked at the cardinal, "Sorry about all of this."

The priest smiled, "It's no trouble my son. It makes me feel young to be in the midst of all of this craziness."

The cardinal started over, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this young man, and young woman. In the bond of holy matrimony..."

Twenty minutes later:

The cardinal continued, "Tsukune Ano, do you take this woman, Moka Akashiya, to be your bride? In sickness and in health, till death do you part?"

He looked Moka straight in the eyes, "I do."

The priest turned to Moka, "And you, Moka Akashiya, do you take this man, Tsukune Ano, to be your husband? In sickness and in health, till death do you part?"

Tears started to slide down Moka's face, "I do."

Onyx watched with pride as the cardinal wrapped up the ceremony.

The cardinal spoke, "Tsukune Ano, you may kiss the bride."

Tsukune leaned in... and started to kiss Moka. In the front pew, Moka's father raised one hand and snapped his fingers. Two things then happened, vampire Moka emerged, and the fitted wedding dress tore around both her hips and bust. Tsukune's eyes snapped open in surprise, but to his credit he didn't freak out like he used to. Tsukune's mother however, was not the same.

Tsukune's mother turned white as a sheet, "Wha... what happened to Moka-chan?!?" And fainted on the spot.

Tsukune broke away from vampire Moka and ran down to the front pew, "Mother!"

He stood up by the altar and just started to laugh, "It truly never ends around these people..."

End.


End file.
